RWBY Rogue Rose AU: Code RED
by rekr ori'kad
Summary: based off of Rogue Rose by xxnarwhalxx, with their permission. follows a more clandestine Ruby Rose working under the Alias Scarlette Summers. She works as a special operative for the Atleasian military, or more specifically for one Gen. James Ironwood. Older, scarred, and hardened, she hunts those who were responsible for the crime that turned her life upside down.
1. Chapter 1

A/N well this is another idea for a fic of mine, only difference is that it's an AU of someone else's fic. This story is based off of xxnarwhalxx's Rogue Rose. The point of divergence would be in chapter six of his story so I highly recommend you give their fanfic a read, if for no other reason than to get some background. I will make many references to his story.

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Chapter 1: Agent of Atlas

Ruby watched as the flurries of snow came down around the vehicle she was riding in. Atlas was always cold, but for some reason it decided to have a blizzard as soon as she was back in country and it hadn't stopped since. The whole affair made Ruby even more upset at being back in this particular section of the country.

"Colonel Summers" the Atlesian soldier who currently occupied himself as her driver said to get her attention. "We'll be arriving at the military complex soon, I'm told General Ironwood will be waiting for you in his office." Ruby nodded her acknowledgement. Things hadn't changed much in regards towards her feelings toward the man over the past couple years she had been working for him. She still hated his guts, if anything her dislike for the man had only grown over the past couple years. That thought caused Ruby to pause, she was nineteen now if things had continued normally she would have been in her final year at beacon alongside her team. It was a sobering thought. One that was interrupted by her driver informing her that they had arrived. As soon as the car stopped Ruby left the vehicle and went up the front steps of the military complex. She talked to no one on her way up and the few that looked like they might try to engage her in a conversation took one look at the name tag on her Atlesian dress uniform and turned away. Ruby had played around with hair dye and color changing contacts to make it more almost impossible for people to recognize her but still a few details would get out. Both the White Fang and the Atlesian military knew there was a super secret specialist that would destroy any enemy in their path, and they knew that it was a young woman who was named Scarlette Summers. In fact Ruby had once heard that some people thought it was an entire agency of young women who just took the name on missions. The rumors served her mission so she let them propagate.

0000 flashback 0000

"Do you have a plan?" Ironwood had asked her.

"Well you're the general. I figured you would know something." Ruby responded curtly.

"Unfortunately, we don't have much up to date information on the activities of Cinder and her companions," Ironwood said "all the information we do have is far out of date and won't be of any use to you." Ruby paused to consider for a moment.

"What about the White Fang, we know she uses them and I have no doubt that you have intelligence on them, they are a terrorist organization." Ruby asked once she had come up with a possible plan.

"Yes but we've only been able to get low level information." Ironwood replied

"Send it to me." Ruby said as she turned to walk out.

"Summers, what's your plan?" Ironwood called out causing her to stop and turn around.

"Any organization is built on the backs of it's lowest members, if I make myself a nuisance she may just come to me," Ruby replied before continuing, "and if not I'll gather intelligence and come to her."

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Ruby came to a stop in front of the entrance to Ironwoods office level. There was a new checkpoint here, an iris scanner and two very nervous looking guards.

"M-Ma'am" one of the guards stuttered as Ruby subconsciously glared at the new interruption to what she wanted to be a very short visit. "You need to scan your eyes-er-eye to be able to access the command level." Ruby almost growled at the reminder of her missing eye. She had lost it in a fight with Roman Torchwick once she tracked him down. Torchwick had taken her eye, at the cost of his life. It only added to the already imposing look Ruby was now able to generate when she wanted to.

"Right, Show me how to use it Private." She told the soldier.

"Y-Yes Ma'am!" he said instantly snapping a salute and quickly showing Ruby how to use the iris scanner. A few moments later Ruby was walking into Ironwood's office. He was already in mid conversation with someone else in the room.

"Yes just go ahead and put them on my desk Winter." Ironwood said before he noticed Ruby, "Ah, Summers your here, good" the other person in the room turned around and almost immediately glared at Ruby. Were it not for everyone else almost running scared at the mention of her Ruby might have found the glare as confrontational, but as it were Ruby almost found it refreshing.

"Winter this is Colonel Scarlette Summers" Ironwood began introductions "Summers this is Winter Schnee." The two continued to glare, in Winters case, or stare apathetically. After a few moments Ruby decided to clear the air.

"Is there a problem Schnee?" Ruby asked.

"I simply don't like the Idea of a convict being allowed in the military." Winter replied. It was now Ruby's turn to glare, at Ironwood though.

"Summers, she is my aide, she has to know about you since she is the one who files all of your reports and requisition requests." Ironwood said with an exasperated sigh. "Winter leave us for right now you don't have clearance for everything Summers and I discuss." This seemed to surprise Winter but she nodded and left the room.

"Now," Ironwood said regaining Ruby's attention. "I don't think I've read your report for your last mission."

"That's because it doesn't exist" Ruby replied curtly, "I haven't had Penny write it yet." Ironwood sighed again.

"You know most officers write their own reports." Ironwood said.

"You asked me to hunt the your enemies not write about it." Ruby replied "I'd rather focus my attention on important things."

"Very well." Ironwood acquiesced, "Speaking of Penny how is she working for you?" Ironwood asked, changing the subject. Penny who had become a friend of Ruby's during her first and only year at beacon and also turned out to be a robot, had been destroyed in the attack on beacon. Ironwood's people had managed to recover Penny's operating system, memory core, and weapon. The result: Ruby now had the smartest and friendliest set of swords in all of remnant.

"She's no Crescent Rose, but she's doing alright" Ruby replied while getting a little impatient.

"Yes well, Crescent Rose is a large scythe," Ironwood began the same explanation he gave whenever Ruby complained about this particular rule of his. "There less than ten scythe wielders in all of remnant, that would be one easy way to expose your identity."

"Did you call me all the way down here for a social visit?" Ruby asked, while ignoring his explanation, she had heard it before after all. "If you did I will be very displeased." Ruby finished, showing just how impatient she was to get out of here.

"No, I didn't" Ironwood said getting more serious now. "I have a mission for you but you're not going to like it."

"Shoot" Ruby said as she took a seat in front of his desk.

"An old colleague of mine believes that his facility has been infiltrated by a member of cinder's gang." Ironwood began "he can't pin down who it is but he knows someone has been attempting to subtly sabotage security systems." Ruby nodded and looked deep in thought.

"How is he sure that this is a member of Cinder's group?" Ruby asked after a moment.

"He isn't but it seems likely." Ironwood answered. "My colleague is professor Ozpin."

Understanding dawned on Ruby, both for why Cinder's group was suspected and why Ironwood said she wouldn't like it. Ruby hadn't set foot inside of beacon since the breach and the trial that had threatened to ruin her life when she was only fifteen.

"What you want me to come back to life and infiltrate my old school?" Ruby asked sarcastically.

"You're half right" Ironwood's answer had Ruby doing a double take, "It would be best if Ruby Rose remains dead for the time being, however Ozpin asked if I knew any investigator specialized huntsmen who could help him."

"And you want me to be the one to help him." Ruby finished figuring out what he wanted. "But I'm not specialized as an investigator."

"No, your something far better." Ironwood said, "You're a spy and our foremost expert on Cinder's forces if anyone can figure out who the infiltrator is, it's you."

"When do I leave?" Ruby asked.

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	2. Chapter 2

"Colonel we're on final aproach to Beacon academy right now." Annette, Ruby's pilot, called back to her, "think you can act like you're not completely screwed up while you're there?" Ruby smiled at the flippant attitude that she would always get from the silver haired faunus girl.

"I don't know, I think I would have recovered by now were it not for this one cat faunus constantly making fun of me" Ruby replied in jest.

"You know I'm your ride out of here right?" Annette answered back. While their first meeting had been rather rocky, Annette and Ruby had grown to be good friends, in their own wierd way. "You want to land normally or just jump to your doom again?"

"Go ahead and take us in," Ruby answered completely serious this time, "I want to keep a relatively low profile this time." Annette turned and looked at Ruby with feigned surprise.

"The great Colonel Summers keeping a low profile?!" Annette said, "Now I've seen everything!"

"Shut up and take us in," Ruby said sternly, even though she was still smiling "let's get this over with"

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Ruby stepped off the ramp coming from the airship and looked around at the area around her. Annette had landed, probably by coincidence, at the same dock where Ruby had set foot into Beacon for the first time. It brought back many happy memories, and many painful ones. Ruby also noticed a few things about the area, the pavement was new, and the trees were all shorter. These were likely because of the attack on Beacon a few years ago. Once again Ruby breifely wondered how things would have been different had she stayed.

She quickly shook herself out of that line of thinking, reminding herself that she had a job to do. She made her way accross the courtyard and into Beacon's main building. She then took an elevator up to the top to report to her old mentor, proffesor Ozpin. Ruby looked over herself one more time. she had gone to great lengths to ensure she would not be recognized, even forgoing any red on her entire outfit. Instead she wore black combat boots, grey cargo pants, a black baseball cap, a dark blue hoodie and of course Penny's backpack form. Her actual looks were different too, she had died her hair blue and left in a ponytail over her left shoulder, and had used a colored contact to cause her remaining eye to be a slightly lighter blue. Once Ruby was done checking herself she waited for the elevator reach Ozpin's office. The wait was not a long one and soon Ruby found herself walking into the headmasters office. Ozpin was sitting behind his desk working on a stack of paperwork when Ruby entered. As he looked up at Ruby she noticed that he looked older, more tired.

"Can I he-can I help you?" Ozpin said taking a double take after looking at Ruby's face.

"General Ironwood sends his regards proffessor." Ruby said in thick perfect Atlesian accent, being careful to avoid saying or doing anything that she would have done a few years ago.

"Ah," Ozpin nodded in understanding, "I thought James was sending me one of his soldiers, not a student."

"I am a soldier," Ruby began not breaking her act for a moment, "Lieutenant Colonel Scarlette Summers, Atlesian InOps at your service."

"InOps?" Ozpin questioned.

"Intelligence Operations," Ruby explained "we're like Military Intelligence had a baby with Special Operations Command and put it on steroids, we handle everything from infiltrations to hunting down enemy spies," Ruby paused for effect "which I believe is what you need here, correct?"

"Yes," Ozpin said while shifting so he could hand Ruby a black scroll with several incident reports on it. "Over the last few months several diffent security systems have been breached and tampered with. Now a few years ago I would have written this off as some students misbehaving and let my assistant Glynda deal with it, but…" he trailed off.

"I understand, don't worry I'll find the culprit" Ruby said, "do you have any exchange students right now?"

"Yes, a few from shade and haven, why?" Opzin asked.

"Exchange students are the easiest way to inflitrate a school," Ruby replied, "I'll be posing as one during my investigation, Name is Shade Azure, if you could do the paperwork for that and get me a list of the other exhange students it will help tremendously." Ruby finished as she started walking out the office.

"Of course, and Ms. Summers?" Ozpin called out, Ruby paused to see what he had to say, "thank you, my students mean the world to me." Ruby remembered all he had done to help her, getting into Beacon, giving her advice, and even during her trial. For once she was actually happy with the task set before her if it meant she could return one of those favors.

"It's my pleasure Professor," Ruby said before stepping into the elevator, "I'll see you around."

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Ruby spent the rest of the day making arangements for what would likely be her next extended mission. She made sure Annette would be on station nearby in vale, and that she had a place there to stay. Ruby then set to work making shure Ironwood had sent some ficticous transcripts for Azure to Proffesor Goodwitch. After ensuring everything was in place Ruby went to her accomodations for this mission. They had decided to give Ruby a dorm room entirely to herself, for which Ruby was immensly greatful. While her night terrors had calmed somewhat over the years, they were still rather frequent and she didn't want to have to deal with questions she couldn't answer.

Ruby looked at the clock and found she still had quite a bit of time before she would need to get to sleep. After taking a moment to decide what to do, Ruby set Penny down in the middle of the floor and set to work. While Penny was an immensly powerful weapon already, old habits died hard and Ruby had made several 'advancements' to the original design. She had stramlined the blades giving them a straiter edge, improving the transformation time as well, she also added a rotating dust chamber to each blade, and finally modified the blades to expand into a shield much like Jaune's sheath had done. The result was that, while the fighting style was unique, the weapon itself couldn't be recognized as the same one Penny used during the Vytal Festival years ago. Ruby took a small earpiece out of her pocket and put it on.

"Penny? Are you there?" Ruby asked quietly

"Salutations friend Ruby!" The always chipper voice quickly answered her, nearly making Ruby pull out the earpiece because of how loud she was being.

"Not so loud Penny," Ruby said, "remember you're right in my ear."

"My apologies, it was not my intention to hurt your ear." Penny said a little more subdued.

"It's fine," Ruby said, "how are you doing with being back here, since you know, you kinda died the last time you were here?" Ruby asked the AI girl.

"I am doing well, it is absolutely wonderful to be back!" Penny said, regaining her chipperness again.

"How can you say that Penny, this is where you died." Ruby reminded the girl again. Penny paused for a moment as if in contemplation.

"Well I have so many happy memories of this place, the few bad ones do not outweigh them." Penny replied. Ruby sagged a bit believing that now there was truly no one who could relate to what she was feeling at the moment. "And the bad memories aren't even that bad anymore." Penny finished.

"Why's that?" Ruby asked, genuinely confused at what the AI girl said.

"Someone tried to kill me here, but I am here, changed but alive," Penny said, "It shows that they failed and I am stronger than them." Ruby could now see where Penny was coming from on her last statement. "Ruby, they tried to kick you out of Beacon and keep you from ever being a huntress," Penny said pulling Ruby's attention back to the AI girl, "But here you are attending Beacon once again, and you are already an accomplished huntress, you won, take joy in that."

"For someone who once struggled to understand human interactions you have become frustratingly observant." Ruby said, almost growling.

"I'm also right," Penny said in response, "Think about it." Ruby sighed and checked the clock.

"Later, I'm going to sleep for now." Ruby said as she packed up what she was doing and set the earpiece on one of the desks in the room. She then picked a bed and settled down for a restless night of sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_Ruby awoke in her room. It was dark outside but that didn't mean anything up here. The sounds of her men clamoring around upstairs told her that it would soon be time for breakfast. Ruby got up and got dressed for the day, she looked over her grey uniform to ensure everything was in place. Odd she was a captian why did her uniform have colonel's insignia on it? A rush of memories hit Ruby and she quickly sprinted out of her room in a panic. She ran to the rooms her men occupied and found them empty she rushed all over the barracks building searching frantically._

" _Guys?! Where are you!?" she called out frantically, "Guys?"_

" _Don't you remember kid?" Ruby turned around, with eyes wide with fear, and found the ghastly bloody Stevens that haunted her still standing there, "You killed them all remember?"_

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"NO!" Ruby woke up screaming. she sat strait up in bed still hyperventilating somewhat before slowely calming herself down.

"It was just a dream, just another dream." Ruby said as she calmed herself down. The dream was a new one but it held the same elements as all of her other nightly nightmares. Ruby checked the clock to find that it was two in the morning. She groaned and reached into her bag for the flask that had been her sleep aid for the last few years. She groaned again when she remembered that she had left in the bag that held Crescent Rose, the one she left with Annette. Realizing that she wouldn't get anymore sleep tonight but refusing to sit on her bed and mope, Ruby got dressed in pair of athletic shorts and a tanktop. She then went for a run around the perimeter of Beacon. She didn't use her semblance and instead forced herself to run with just her own physical muscles. She continued this for several hours pausing for a little while every now and then to work on pushups, or situps, or another excersise to keep up her strength. Once it was close to time for the cafeteria to open she went back to her dorm, took a shower and changed, feeling like she had managed to temporarily leave the ghosts of her past behind. Now she just had to act like nothing was wrong around her, very much still alive, friends of the past. Shrugging off what apprehension remained Ruby took off to the cafeteria to get some food. Upon arriving she filled a tray and picked a spot and sat down. She quickly dug into her meal and allowed herself to temporarily forget the demands of the mission.

"Ah, coffee, how I've missed you." Ruby said holding a steaming mug in front of her.

"Hey mind if we sit here?" A familiar voice said next to Ruby. Ruby froze a bit before slowly turning and nodding to her sister, Yang Xiao Long. "Thanks this is where we normally sit with our sister team." Yang said as she sat down. Ruby saw that only a few feet away and coming quickly were her other former teamates, Weiss and Blake. She mentally berated herself for being so careless as to sit in the same spot she and her team normally sat while she was still at Beacon. "Name's Yang, Yang Xaio Long, these are my teamates, Weiss and Blake, what's your name?" she said while offering Ruby a handshake. It was almost surreal, Yang, asking her what her name was. Ruby set down her coffee and quickly settled her nerves.

"Azure, well, Shade Azure but all my friends call me Azure." Ruby said taking her sisters hand and shaking it. Yang seemed to pause in thought for a moment, and Ruby was concerned that she had been made.

"Nah, that's too long," Yang said, "I think I'll call you Shae." Ruby had to restrain herself from breathing sigh of relief, she hadn't been made.

"Do you always call people whatever you want to?" Ruby asked Yang, knowing full well the true answer.

"Yup, pretty much." Yang answered.

"You'll get used to it." Weiss told Ruby. Ruby nodded her head in acknowledgement. Her former teamates looked well, Weiss had gotten rid of her mile long scowl, while Blake had gotten rid of her bow. As she looked up at them she noticed Blake staring at her.

"You have a lot of cookies on your plate." Blake said. Ruby realized she had goofed again and quickly came up with an excuse, all while cursing her own carelessness and Blake's keen intellect.

"It's my first time away from home, so I figured I would splurge a bit." Ruby said before moving to the offensive. "You got a problem with that?" Ruby said, letting a little bit of her redemption corpse side show through.

"No, I just find it surprising that anybody could eat that many calories." Blake said calmly, not rising to Ruby's bait. Ruby also realised she would need an explanation for this. Her semblance required an exctremely high metabolism, people normally wouldn't eat as much as her. An idea quickly formed in Ruby's mind.

"It has do with my semblance," Ruby said, it wasn't a lie, but neither was it the full truth.

"Oh, what's that?" Yang said grinning. Ruby knew she would have to get her tone and facial expressions just right if she was going to pull this off.

"Now now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" Ruby said in a mistierious voice while smirking a bit.

"Aw" Yang feigned a pout.

"Where are you from Azure?" Weiss asked Ruby, "You said this was your first time away from home, Where is home?"

"Atlas" Ruby said to the group, "born and raised there" Weiss seemed to nod in understanding. While Blake took a turn asking a question.

"What brings you to Beacon?" Blake's question was one of the more difficult to answer. While her regular alias had a reason to be here Azure's was not readily obvious.

"It was highly recommended to me by my father that I travel to another kingdom and see how their huntsmen and huntresses are before I sign up as an Atlesian Specialist." Ruby said, rehersing the cover story she had come up with earlier on her run.

"Atlesian Specialist?" Yang asked. Ruby went to answer but Weiss beat her to it.

"They're students from Atlas Academy who decide to persue a military career." Weiss explained, "It's what my sister did." She seemed to pause for a bit, "But if you're considering that then you would have to be in your fourth year" She said surprised.

"That's correct" Ruby said, she could see the slight surprise on everyone's faces. "I look younger than I am."

"Oh," Yang said, "well why do you want to do the specialist thing?"

"Well my father was a career military man," Ruby said, further propagating her story from earlier, "And I want to follow in his footsteps."

"I thought you said that your father wanted you to come here before you signed up?" Blake asked.

"Yeah he's not very excited with me joining the Atlas military, want's me to 'consider all other options'" Ruby said while using air quotes.

Ruby sighed and quickly finished her food and excused herself from the group. Once she was around the corner she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay that went well," Ruby said to herself, "Lets just make it through the day without screwing up."

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Earlier that morning

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Yang was not an early riser. This didn't mean she was lazy, she just didn't enjoy waking more than an hour before class. So it was a surprise to her when she woke up around seven in the morning feeling well rested and ready for the day. She went to go take a shower and start her day when she was interupted by Blake, who was sitting on her bed reading a book.

"Weiss is in there right now, you'll have to wait a few minutes." Blake said without even looking up from her book. Yang sighed and went towards the window to get some fresh air while waiting. When she looked out the window she saw a young girl with blue hair doing a workout outside the dorms. Yang spent a few moments watching the girl and comparing her workout to the girl's, before coming to the startling realization that her workout didn't quite measure up.

"Wow, that girl is really going at it." she commented out loud.

"Yeah she's been doing it since before I got up." Blake told the blonde, again without looking away from her book. Her statement however caused Yang to go wide eyed with shock. While Yang was not an early riser, Blake was, which meant that this girl had been running an extremely intense workout session for several hours now. Yang was begining to wonder if she was looking at another android right now. She rejected that idea because an android wouldn't need excersize, but the fact still remained the girl was unbelievable. The shower soon opened up and by the time Yang was done with her shower the girl was gone, but Yang's interest had been piqued. Added to the fact was that she hadn't recognized the girl at a distance. Soon everyone was ready and team WBY left for the cafeteria earlier than they normally would. Once Yang had gotten her tray she headed toward the spot where they usually sat with team JNPR. Only there was already someone sitting there, Yang quickly realized it was the blue haired girl from earlier. Yang smiled a bit at the chance to get to know someone who could work out as much as her.

"Hey mind if we sit here?" Yang asked, from there the conversation continued fairly well. The girl was certainly interesting. The girl, Shae, was overly polite most of the time, but she would have random bouts of being almost rude. She seemed guarded to Yang, like a girl who cared just a little to much about what people thought of her.

"I just find it surprising that anybody could eat that many calories." Blake said to the girl who seemed to hesitate a brief moment before answering.

"It has to do with my semblance." Shae said after a moment. Yang thought that perhaps the girl had decided to open up to them.

"Oh, what's that?" Yang said. The girl turned to look at her and gave a misceivious smile.

"Now that would be telling." She said, clearly playing with them. The conversation continued and eventually Shae finished what was left of her food and left the table.

"Hey Blake, when's combat class?" Yang asked the faunus girl.

"It's second period, right before lunch." Blake replied. Yang's smile grew at that, she wanted to see what this exchange student was made of.

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	4. Chapter 4

The day continued quietly for Ruby, she sat in one of Professor Ports lectures and quickly remembered why she had dreaded his classes. He was so boring, plain and simple. While Ruby couldn't deny the feats he talked about were nothing short of amazing, the way he retold them was just terrible. Ruby quickly found herself finding anything else to do. She began going over some of the files that Ozpin had given her on the exchange students. Some she immediately recognized, Sun was still here, as was Neptune. There were a few others that she didn't recognize so she bookmarked them and made a note to figure out who they were. She continued to pour through the files all during ports lecture and only took a brief break before Glynda's combat class. This was one class she payed attention too, especially if one of her suspects were on the floor. She also saw her old classmates had improved somewhat, though the most drastic change was by far with Jaune, who was actually winning fights now.

"Very good mister Arc, mister Bronzewing I would recommend you ask him to give you some pointers on swordsmanship." Glynda said as the two walked off the stage, "now that was all the assigned matches for today and we still have some time, so if anyone would like to volunteer?" Immediately Yang's hand shot up.

"I volunteer as tribute!" Ruby could practically hear Weiss facepalm. She couldn't help but chuckle, some things never change. Glynda let out a sigh.

"Very well miss Xiao Long, is there anyone who wants to volunteer as her opponent?" Glynda asked.

"Actually Ms. Goodwitch," Yang interrupted her, "can I pick my opponent?" Glynda gave her a suspicious look but nodded.

"If they agree to it, yes" Glynda answered.

"Hey Shae you up for a spar?" Yang shouted up to Ruby.

' _Crap, I should have thought about this'_ Ruby berated herself, _I can easily defeat Yang, but can Azure?'_ as she thought about this two new thoughts emerged. ' _If I go all out will the spy recognize me as Summers? If I take a hit will anyone question why the girl who's entire color scheme is blue has a red aura?'_ against her better judgement Ruby nodded and went to the floor.

"Cool, you ready for this Shae?" Yang asked her, and Ruby made up her mind she couldn't go full strength but she couldn't get hit either. She would be the real untouchable girl, no cheating with polarity. She whispered a command to Penny to release just two swords, which Ruby promptly grabbed to give the impression that she was drawing them from some sort of concealment holster.

"I'm always ready Xiao Long." Ruby answered her cooly. Yang smirked and put herself in a ready stance.

"Begin!" Glynda called. Yang immediately lunged at Ruby, who promptly jumped back. Even if she was more than capable of taking Yang out she needed to do it without going all out and without her semblance, and Yang was still very strong. Ruby looked deep down to once again find that familiar cold that served her so well in the Redemption Corpse. When she looked at Yang again her eyes were a sharp as the steel in her hand. She switched her swords into pistol form and fired at Yang. Yang brought her gauntlets up and expertly deflected each shot.

' _Great, she's gotten better at blocking_ ' Ruby thought sarcastically. Yang then pointed her gauntlets behind her and used the recoil to jump to where Ruby was. As Yang threw a punch Ruby quickly shifted her weapons back into swords and as she ducked under Yang's fist, she jabbed them forward leaving two shallow cuts on the Aura of Yang's torso. Yang countered by trying to kick Ruby, but she stepped to the right while flipping her right hand sword around so it was in a backhand, and leaving yet another shallow cut in her sister's Aura. Yang then went for a roundhouse kick, and Ruby rolled under it while sliding her blade along Yang's shin.

' _How does the Goliath die?'_ Ruby thought, ' _by a thousand cuts._ ' The fight continued like this for a while, with Ruby evading and leaving little cuts on Yang, until Yang's hair exploded on fire.

' _Ah, she's angry now,'_ Ruby thought ' _good people get stupid when they're angry_ ' she let the familiar cold wash over her again and readied herself to dodge whatever frantic attack would be Yang's next. However Ruby knew something was wrong in the next moment when Yang turned around and her eyes switched from the telltale red into her normal lavender. Ruby suddendly realised that Yang had learned to control her anger yet keep the strength her semblance lent her. She was almost too late when Yang raised her fist, and slammed it into the ground. Ruby threw one of her blades behind her, not really caring where it landed and yanked on the wire to quickly pull her away from the shockwave. It worked but Yang was on her in a second, and with her blade embedded fairly deep into the arena wall she was left with one sword. Yang threw another punch and Ruby was forced to catch it on her sword. Her options limited, Ruby once again drew on the cold hard determination she had fostered in the Corpse to simply win. Pumping all the Aura she could into her hand she punched Yang right in the throat. It wouldn't kill Yang because of her Aura but it did cause her to lose her breath. While Yang was still choking for air, Ruby moved behind her and switched her remaining sword into a pistol and fired several times into the back of Yang's head.

"That's enough!" Glynda called, stopping the fight, "miss Xiao Long's Aura is in the red." Ruby nodded and went about recovering her sword from the wall.

"Well done miss Azure," Glynda said, "miss Xiao Long while the shockwave you used was a good idea perhaps you should consider the various places you leave open when you fight another close combat opponent." Yang nodded as she recovered her breath, "and while I don't condone playing dirty in an arena match," she paused to look at Ruby, "Remember that neither criminals nor the grimm will 'play fair,' now is there anyone else who would like a match?" Ruby began to walk back to her seat, but was suddenly caught by the same blonde who she had just faced.

"Hey come sit with my team, nobody should be sitting alone." Yang said while putting an arm over her shoulder.

"If that was your way of asking I think you need to rethink your social approach." Ruby told her. Yang laughed and Ruby went to hang out with her at one time team.

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After looking over the profiles of the exchange students she couldn't find anything wrong with them, which meant she was going to have to meet each of them to try and narrow down her suspect list. She spent the rest of the week doing just that. So far she had three left to meet and none of them had screamed out 'enemy spy' if she couldn't find anything in meeting them she would have to do an in depth search of each and every students history. That would be incredibly time consuming as they were almost all from different kingdoms, and some had a history over multiple kingdoms. And so she approached her next unwary suspect, Raven Evergreen. The girl was short with black hair in a twintail style, and green eyes. Her entire clothing setup was black with white accents. Ruby approached the girl with her usual story.

"Hi! My name's Azure, and I'm heading around talking with the Beacon students to try and get an idea of what being a huntress in vale is like can you talk for a bit?" the girl looked at Ruby smiled and fished her scroll out of her pocket.

Can't talk, not a Beacon student, sorry the girl typed on the screen. Ruby nodded and acted surprise.

"Oh sorry, I don't know who's a Beacon student or not yet." Ruby said. The girl smiled and turned and walked away. As Ruby watched her go she felt something off. She knew that smile, but where had she seen it before. She had never met this girl in her time at Beacon, she would have remembered a mute student, so where had she seen her before. Deciding that it needed further investigation she waited until the next days classes to begin. She then went to the registered dorm room for Evergreen.

"Penny unlock the door." Ruby whispered into her earpiece. She soon her the telltale click from the door that signaled her friend had completed her task. There was nothing inside the room that screamed spy. The floor and beds were littered with all kinds of colorful stuffed animals, clothing of all sorts, though most of it was rather racy, was strewn all over the floor. In one corner was an umbrella that caught Ruby's eye for some reason. Ruby went over and looked at the umbrella, she quickly found a release on the handle that allowed a small blade to slide out.

"Penny, check the files, what is Evergreen's weapon listed as?" Ruby asked into her earpiece. A moment later Penny responded.

"She is listed as a martial artist who specialises in unarmed combat," Penny answered, "she doesn't have a weapon." Ruby was pondering what to do. This wasn't proof but it certainly was suspicious. Ruby was in the middle of this thought when she heard the sounds of students in the hallway. She quickly checked her scroll.

 _It's only two, classes went till four why were the students walking the hallways_? Ruby suddenly remembered that on fridays classes were often let out a couple hours early in anticipation of the weekend. It wasn't official but most of the teachers did it. _How could I have forgotten? Have I really been hunting Cinder and Torchwick long enough to forget my time at Beacon?_ Ruby thought to herself when something finally clicked, ' _wait, Torchwick, his assistant who helped him escape in the bullhead, that's where I've seen that smile!_ Ruby opened the umbrella and sure enough it was the same one that had blocked Yang's shot from connecting with the criminal. As Ruby made this discovery she heard the door open behind her. She turned around and saw a confused looking Evergreen, no, Neo in disguise standing there.

"I knew something was off about you," Ruby began, "but being Neo, Torchwick's right hand girl?" Ruby chuckled, "oh, sorry former right hand girl." at that Neo dropped her disguise and lunged at Ruby, managing to recover her weapon in the process. Penny released a sword for Ruby to use and Ruby struck home right across Neo's midsection. Only to have said person shatter into a thousand tiny shards. At the same time the window behind Ruby shattered and the real Neo jumped from the window to land in the courtyard, three stories down. Ruby, not wanting to test her landing strategy with the new weapon just yet, began to run to the stairs to get down where Neo was.

"Penny get me Annette, and send Ozpin a message to lock down the Airdocks!" Ruby said into her earpiece. As she ran down the hallways the remains of team RWBY as well as team JNPR saw the blue haired girl running at a full, Aura enhanced, sprint.

"Hey Shae, where's the fire?" Yang asked, only to be promptly ignored as Ruby continued finally reached the stairs and practically leaped down them, taking four or five steps at a time.

"Maybe we should go see what's up?" Blake asked the group. They nodded and went after the girl from Atlas. Meanwhile Ruby had gotten a hold of Annette.

"Annette I found the spy, I'm going to try to catch her here, but I want you to get here as quickly as possible!" Ruby practically shouted into her earpiece.

"What? Summers? What happened to low profile?" Annette asked.

"Just get here!" Ruby shouted as she cut the link. As Ruby burst through the door into the courtyard she saw Neo on the other side limping towards the Airdocks. Apparently the three story fall had slowed her down a bit but she was still going to escape if Ruby didn't do something quick.

"NEO!" Ruby shouted, "I'M SUMMERS!" as she said that Neo froze and slowly turned around. "Yeah that's right, it takes a killer to catch a killer, and I'm the best Atlas has." Ruby said, before giving her trump card against the mute, "I'm the one who killed your precious Torchwick!" Neo was furious now, all attempt at escape was forgotten as she drew her weapon and charged towards Ruby. At first Ruby had the advantage because Neo was attacking in blind fury, forgetting to even use her semblance on the specialist. However all it took was Ruby getting a few hits in to cause Neo to regain control of herself and focus on fighting the girl with illusions. Ruby was quickly being struck from whichever angle she seemed to have do defenses on. Sometimes Neo would use an illusion to get Ruby to react to her when she wasn't there, and sometimes she would be there just to keep Ruby constantly guessing.

"Penny twelve swords." Ruby whispered into her earpiece. Ruby herself couldn't control all the swords that Penny could deploy, but Penny could. However without an actual target all Penny could do was swing the swords randomly in an attempt to strike the illusionist. Meanwhile Ruby still had two swords in hand and was trying to find Neo by sound. She had the know how to fight while blind thanks to much of her time in the Redemption Corpse taking place during the Polar night, but unfortunately Neo was too quiet. Not just that she was mute, but Ruby couldn't here footsteps, or heavy breathing, even Neo's weapon displaced so little air when she struck there was nothing for Ruby to find her with. Ruby could feel the exhaustion coming over her as her Aura was being rapidly depleted. As Ruby felt her Aura break she heard another voice on her earpiece.

"Summers I'm on station," Annette called over the comm, "did you catch her yet?" Ruby heard Annette's voice and came up with an idea.

"Annette check your thermals!" Ruby ordered, "I'm fighting an illusionist, tell me who's not standing where they should be!" Less than a second later Annette answered.

"Your three O'clock, she's close!" Ruby bent backwards in time to see the illusion shatter and the needle thin blade pass through the air where her head had been. Ruby flipped her right hand sword into a backhand style and struck Neo across her midsection. This shattered Neo's Aura and sent her skidding back and away from Ruby. Ruby knowing that she was almost out of the fight and that whoever struck next would likely kill the other person gave Annette one more order.

"Annette light her up!" there was no sound of glass breaking, no shards of an illusion as the gunships gatling guns tore into the mute assassin. As the assassin fell Ruby felt consciousness also fail her.

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	5. Chapter 5

_Ruby lined her sights up on her target, his bowler hat and white coat were unmistakable amongst the otherwise deserted alley._

" _Coral?" her target called out, "I'm here what was so important we needed to meet? Are you in trouble?" Coral was a smuggler for fun, had worked with Roman on several occasions, someone he apparently cared deeply for, and another one of Ruby's many personas she had adopted since taking this job. Ruby exhaled and squeezed Crescent Rose's trigger. If anyone asked her later Ruby would claim that all she felt was recoil, but if she was being honest with herself, she felt relieved at doing this. She and her former friends spent most of her time at Beacon hunting this particular criminal and attempting to bring him to justice. Well justice was about to catch up to Roman, at about four thousand feet per second. Roman turned as he heard the rifle fire, only to take the .50 Cal round directly to the face. He went flying one way and his ridiculous hat the other. Ruby sighed, that had felt good. Then Roman twiched and began to get back up._

" _Ah! Whoever you are you're gonna pay for that!" he said while wiping his now very bloody and probably broken nose. "And if you hurt Coral I'm going to freaking kill you!" Ruby sighed again, this time in exasperation rather than relief._

" _Of course things could never be that easy." Ruby mumbled to herself, she then adjusted her voice so she once again sounded like the Mantellian rich girl, "oh, Roman you came for me!" Roman paused, his suspicions raised, he readied his cane._

" _Coral? Where are you?" he asked._

" _Why right here!" At that Ruby stepped out of the shadows, she looked Roman in the eye. She was bereft of the pink hair and green eyes Roman associated with the smuggler. Roman seemed confused for a moment before his eyes widened in recognition._

" _Red!?" Roman said in shock, "but people said you were…" he didn't continue to talk, just raised his cane and fired. Ruby dogged easily thanks to her semblance, unfurled Crescent Rose and dove at the theif. Ruby managed to hook the scythe around his arm fired, taking off his arm and getting behind him in one swift move. She then hooked the scythe around his neck and reloaded._

" _How's it feel, knowing that you're going to die for all you did?" Ruby asked._

" _I always thought it would end at the hand of a grimm," That wasn't Roman's voice, "but I already served my penance, I got out of the game kid." the man Ruby had been fighting turned around. It was Faught, the one armed retired Colonel stood in front of her like so many others had done when they haunted her sleep. "When are you going to serve yours?" he asked._

" _Yeah when are you going to pay for all the lives you lost?" another very familiar voice asked behind. Ruby turned around in fright to see Stevens standing there with almost a hundred corpses standing behind him. They were all in various states of decay, but she recognized the faces, each one was someone she knew in the Corps. Then they all charged her._

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Ruby woke up screaming. A clattering sound to her right pulled her attention to the poor nurse who she had startled when she woke up. She was in Beacon's infirmary.

"Miss, Miss Azure are you alright?" the nurse frantically asked. While Ruby tried to slow her breathing and maybe her heart, which felt like it was trying to leave her chest, Ruby thought about the dream. Her fight with Torchwick had never been that easy, and she had sliced him in half, not taken his arm. On another note Faught's presence in the dream unnerved her, she was already haunted nightly by the dead, she really didn't need the living doing the same. Once she was a little more calm she thought about what the nurse had called her. ' _Azure? Who's Azure?'_ Ruby then noticed a bit of her hair fall in front of her, blue hair, ' _right I'm on a mission_ ' Ruby thought as the events of the last week came flooding back. ' _Neo, I got Neo._ ' there wasn't as much joy as when she took out Torchwick, but it was still another major player she had taken out.

"Miss Azure?" the nurse asked again, jerking Ruby from her thoughts.

"Y-yeah, Sorry." Ruby smiled apologetically, "PTSD sucks, don't ever get it." the nurse nodded solemnly.

"Well when you are feeling better the headmaster wanted to talk to you." the nurse told her. Ruby nodded and got out of the small hospital bed. The walk to Ozpin's office wasn't very far from the infirmary. When the doors to the office opened Ozpin looked up from his desk and smiled.

"I must say that when James said he sent his best, I wasn't expecting this." Ozpin said, "you've barely been here a week and you already rooted out and eliminated the spy." he paused and frowned a bit, "though you could have been more discreet on that last part." he motioned for Ruby to take a seat he had near the desk. Ruby did and crossed her arms.

"Unfortunately that wasn't an option," Ruby told him, "Neo realized she had been discovered and would have disappeared if she had gotten away." Ruby then looked Ozpin in the eye, she was almost glaring with intensity. "I have my own overarching mission to cause the terrorists as much grief as possible." Ozpin nodded.

"I see, is that a personal mission or?" he didn't finish but Ruby understood what he was getting at.

"It's an actual mission." Ruby simply told him. Ozpin waited for her to continue and when she didn't he continued talking.

"James never told me he had such a promising student at his academy." Ozpin said, "if I may ask when did you graduate?"

"You may ask but you will likely be disappointed by the answer." She told him and he motioned for her to continue, "I never graduated from an academy, I earned my huntress license, and Specialist qualification, from military service." Ruby told him.

"That's… difficult to accomplish." Ozpin said and Ruby nodded.

"Professor if you could help me, I need everything you have on Raven Evergreen and her team." Ruby said, quickly changing the subject.

"Of course." Ozpin said, "I will have it sent to the scroll number you provided to me." Ruby nodded and stood up to walk out. "It was a pleasure working with you miss Summers." Ozpin said as she reached the door.

"Likewise, Professor."

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Ruby left Ozpin's office and began reviewing the files he had sent. Oddly enough Evergreen's team files had been validated by Haven, indicating that they were in fact actual students. Ruby was considering how to investigate this further when she ran into her former team, almost literally.

"Hey Shae!" the voice of Ruby's older sister jerked her attention from the scroll in her hands.

"Hello Yang, Weiss, Blake, how are you doing?" Ruby greeted.

"We are doing well," Weiss answered, "how are you? We came to visit you in the infirmary, but,"

"You were already out," Blake finished.

"Yeah, and after such an intense fight too," Yang said, "who'da thought she was hiding under our noses this whole time."

"I'm fine," Ruby answered, "I've had much worse fights than that." she said while motioning to her missing eye.

"About that," Blake began, "during the fight you said something about Torchwick?"

"Heard that did ya? A petty thief with a penchant for terrorism, he's actually the one who gave me this injury" Ruby said, "Actually he was a major player in a few attacks here in vale…"

"Yeah, we've heard of him." Yang said.

"Well, I finally caught up with him in Vacuo," Ruby continued, "We think he may have been planning to do something similar there."

"We?" Weiss suddenly asked.

"Ah, Right, I haven't properly introduced myself," Ruby said and at their confused looks clarified, "I mislead you earlier I am not training to be a specialist, I am one, Colonel Scarlette Summers at your service." At that she took a little bow.

"Cool!" Yang said, "well you already know all of us," Yes she did more than Yang knew. "Hey if you're ever in vale again look us up!" Yang finished and Ruby smiled.

"Maybe, we'll see." Ruby said before leaving the team behind and continuing to the airdocks. Once she arrived at the airdocks she went straight to the sleek, black colored atlesian dropship that belonged to Annette, who was currently trying to ignore a very enthusiastic Beacon pilot.

"Annette, I want wheels up five minutes ago." Ruby told her pilot as she entered the bay at the back of the gunship.

"Annette?" the Beacon pilot looked confused, "you said your name was Jewel."

"On it boss," Annette said, initially ignoring the other pilot, "hey flyboy, next time you try impressing a girl with your flight status, make sure she's not a better pilot than you first." with that she went inside and the gunship left a few minutes later.

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"How about the Nightwing?"

"No."

"The Nightstalker?"

"No"

"The Blackbird?"

"Are you gonna tell me where we're going or am I just going to keep flying straight?" Annette asked, interrupting Ruby's attempts to name the gunship. Ruby then entered the cockpit to look at where they were at. Her hair, now her natural color, was still wet from the solution used to clear the hair dye. Her single silver eye found what she was looking for, and she pointed in a direction.

"Head that way for about ten miles and find a rooftop near a secluded alley." Ruby ordered and Annette began to move the the gunship to comply. While Annette was doing this she noticed a flash of red and saw Ruby putting on a familiar old cloak.

"I thought you said that thing would be too recognizable in a city?" Annette asked. Ruby finished clasping her cloak before nodding.

"It is, but where I'm going they won't do business with people they don't recognize." Ruby answered. After a few minutes Ruby found her feet on solid ground making her way towards a familiar club. The guard at the front was new and didn't seem to recognize her, so she was able to walk in with no trouble. Once on the inside though one of the older guards spotted the red cloaked girl and recognized her immediately. Ruby soon found herself surrounded by half a dozen goons with guns all pointed at her.

"Junior!" She called out, "get out here or you'll be burying these guys tomorrow!" Several of the older members of the group flinched when she said that. It took only a few moments before Junior came practically rushing from upstairs.

"Red, heard you were dead." Junior said when he saw her. "What do you want?" he clearly wasn't happy about her being back.

"Well the guns out of my face would be a start." Ruby told him, when nobody moved Ruby raised her voice, "seriously if I wanted to cause trouble for you guys I could have done it from the building across the street!" Junior motioned for his guys to go back to what they were doing before and motioned for Ruby to join him at the bar.

"So, what do you want?" Junior asked her.

"I need information," Ruby said, "and I'm paying this time." Ruby said as she put down a little more Lien than was standard fare for information brokers. "The extra is for the twins, how are they doing?"

"They're retired, you crippled Melanie, remember?" Junior spitfully told the girl.

"Of course I remember," Ruby told him, "why do you think I gave you a bit extra?" Ruby pointed to the pile of Lien cards, "anyways, I need information on Neo." Junior seemed confused for a moment before recognition, and fear, sparked in his eyes.

"Torchwick's girl?!" Junior said while backing away from Ruby, "forget it! You may kill me but she'll do even worse!" Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Relax, you coward," Ruby said, "she won't be coming after you, she's dead." Junior stopped at that.

"You're sure?" he asked.

"Killed her myself," Ruby told him while grabbing a bottle from behind the counter and pouring herself a drink, "that information doesn't come from you though, got it?" Junior quickly nodded.

"What did you want to know then?" he asked.

"How long has Neo been operating in Vale?" she asked.

"Since she was a kid why?" Junior asked.

"Has she ever been out of the country for a long time?" Ruby asked, ignoring Junior's question.

"Well that would depend on what you mean by a long time," Junior answered, "she's never been off the radar for more than a few months." Ruby nodded and finished her drink before getting up and leaving.

"Thanks Junior," She waved over her shoulder, "looking forward to the next time we work together."

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	6. Chapter 6

The trip back to Atlas was quiet and uneventful, something that Ruby was very thankful for, she spent the trip working on Crescent Rose. Cleaning and maintaining the weapon that she had been forced to neglect in use.

"Summers we're approaching the landing zone, looks like you've got company." Annette called ahead from the cockpit. Ruby groaned, company meant one of two things, either there were enemies at the landing zone, or Ironwood was there. Considering their destination was an airdock in the heart of Atlas proper, it was probably the latter.

"Alright take us down," Ruby told Annette, "let's see what he wants, you should probably keep it running" Annette nodded and brought the gunship down onto the landing pad, and Ruby jumped out the back.

"Summers!" Ionwood called out, "I hear congratulations are in order! Walk with me for a bit." Ruby nodded and matched stride with the taller man.

"One week." Ironwood laughed, "If only all your missions went that smoothly, we'd already have them by now if that was the case!"

"If all my missions went that smoothly, I'd be graduating this year, and you'd have a dozen more key terrorists to deal with." Ruby reminded him, then quickly changing the subject, "on that note there was a small hiccup."

"If it was the rather dramatic takedown I understand that those can be unavoidable sometimes." Ironwood told her.

"No that wasn't it," Ruby answered, "Neo's alias was vetted, Haven academy verified everything themselves." Ironwood stopped walking and turned to the young huntress.

"Are you saying that someone in Haven is an enemy operative?" he asked.

"It's the only logical explanation I can think of." Ruby told him, "It's going to be my next stop."

Ironwood seemed to be deep in thought for a minute, he then looked back at Ruby, "I can appreciate that Summers, but I have another mission for you, and this one is time sensitive." Ruby looked at him and motioned for him to continue, "We located a White Fang base of operations nearby, within striking distance of Atlas itself. We need it taken out."

"You're a general, you have an army for that sort of thing." Ruby retorted.

"The base is built into the mountains, It's got a particularly narrow entrance." Ironwood answered, "If I sent troops in there it would be a bloodbath that would last months." Ruby nodded in understanding.

"Gloves off?" She asked.

"Whatever you need to complete the mission and get back on task A-S-A-P" Ironwood said while nodding.

"Then I won't waste any more time here." Ruby said and briskly walked off in another direction.

"Summers!" Ironwood shouted back. Ruby paused and turned around with an annoyed look on her face, "Be careful." Ironwood said. Ruby's eyes narrowed and she flipped an obscene gesture at him before turning and continuing to walk away.

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Ironwood chuckle to himself as he saw Ruby walk away. He knew she legitimately hated him, and was the most disrespectful person he had ever met, military or not, but she had started to grow on him. She got the job done regardless of her personal feelings. That was something he could respect about her. Ironwood walked back to his car from the airdock and had the driver take him to his home. As he approached the door he noticed something off. If you were to ask him, Ironwood would say that he wasn't paranoid. So what if his house was armored like a bunker, so what if he had six different lock types on all the outside doors, and so what if he left a slip of paper in the front door whenever he left. _'After all one isn't paranoid if they're right'_ Ironwood thought as he picked up the simple piece of paper from the front porch. He activated an audio recorder he always kept on his belt and drew his pistol before entering the house. The initial entryway was clear, so he began to systematically check every room in the house. When he got to the study he saw a familiar set of dark red hair and silver iris staring at him.

"Summers!" Ironwood growled. "You have my scroll number, if you needed something you could have called instead of breaking in!" He said while turning off the recorder. "Now what did you need." Ironwood looked back up at the girl to see a wicked looking chain sickle fly at him. It wrapped around his throat and the blade dug into the Aura around his neck. The illusion shimmered and faded revealing a girl with mint green hair and red eyes.

"Em-er-ald Sus-trai" Ironwood croaked out while bringing his pistol to bear.

"Ah-ah-ah" Emerald said as she used another chain sickle to knock it away. She then switched the weapon back to a pistol and pointed it at Ironwood's head. "Goodbye General, you were always a pain in the rear." Emerald fired three shots and watched as the combined attack shattered the Generals Aura. The moment his Aura shattered the blade around his neck dug deep and slit his throat. After that Emerald fired another shot and the General was no more.

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Winter sighed as the military police rushed back and forth. She had given a statement of what happened at least three times already and could practically recite it like a speech. "When general Ironwood didn't show up for work today I came to his house to check on him." "I'm his assistant that's part of my job." "Yes I was alone." "Of course, I was armed." "I use a dueling saber and a parrying dagger." "No I don't use a gun." She had answered this way so many times it was saddening how inefficient the MPs were being. It was well into the afternoon by now and they were still acting so frantic. _'It is somewhat understandable.'_ thought Winter, _'Not only was it the General of the Atlesian military murdered but it was Ironwood himself.'_ As she was contemplating this another officer came up to her.

"General Adelram." Winter greeted as he approached.

"Schnee." He simply said before sitting next to her. "The council held an emergency session today." Winter nodded. She had figured as much, the loss of their main military commander and headmaster of the academy would have to be dealt with immediately. "They named me as his military successor," Winter nodded again, he was the next highest ranked. "They named you as his successor for the academy." Now it was time for Winter to be surprised.

"Why did they do that?" Winter asked.

"He put you forward a while ago as a possible replacement for him should something happen." the General told her. "So congratulations." There was no joy in his tone however. That was something Winter could sympathise with. While they sat there in silence the lead MP came over to talk with them.

"Sir. Ma'am." the soldier said. "We found something." intrigued the General and Winter walked over to a mobile scroll terminal someone had brought. On it was an audio file recording. They listened to quiet footsteps and the occasional sound of a door opening.

"He recorded entering his own house?" one of the MP's voiced. No one answered the MP as they heard Ironwood suddenly sigh.

"Summers!" Ironwood growled. "You have my scroll number, if you needed something you could have…" the recording shut off at that point.

There were murmurs amongst the MPs present.

"Winter, who is this Summers?" Adelram asked. Winter didn't get a chance to respond as one of the MPs spoke up.

"Sir. Summers is a ghost," the MP said gaining the General's attention. "She supposedly heads up InOps but no one there ever sees her." The General considers for a moment before responding.

"How do you know that soldier?" he asks.

"Sorry didn't introduce myself." the MP answers, "I'm Ranger, Captain Reg Ranger. I'm in charge of security for InOps. I was just getting off duty when they called for any available MP's to come down here." The General took a moment to think.

"Captain Ranger, I want you to find this 'Summers' and bring her in." The General answered, "You will report only to myself and Operative Schnee for this mission, understand?"

"Uh, Y-yes sir, but um," Ranger was clearly searching for words. "I wasn't kidding when I said she was a ghost. She only ever deals with Ironwood and there was no schedule for her on any databases we have access to. It will be next to impossible to find her." Winter thought for a moment.

"Maybe not." The two Atlesian officers turned towards her. "She usually only delivers periodic untraceable reports and requisition requests to Ironwoods office. But Ironwood gave her a specific mission just recently." she told them. "If she has gone rogue she probably won't be there but it's still worth a shot."

"Probably the best one we've got." Ranger said. "I'll need some support."

"Take a company of shock troops with you." the General said. "Do your best to bring her in alive."

"Yes sir."

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A/N Hello everyone! Guess who's back! I really appreciate all those who have been patiently waiting for this to come out. I'm not quite done with school yet, but I am on break right now so I will do my best to update as often as possible for this next month until school starts again. College, right? Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this, I will probably be updating shadows rage next. I may also work on putting some new stuff I've thought about up as well.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N So I had a review on the last chapter point out an error I made. In the chapter I describe as Emeralds semblance show's Ruby on the camera. This was an error I made by not reading my own notes very closely. Ironwood was only supposed to have an audio recorder. That is where the error is but everything else followed the original plan. Internal continuity is something that I find very important so I am apologizing for the error I made. I already changed it so if you feel the need you can go back to the last chapter and reread it but it's just minor changes. That said on to the story!

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Ruby looked at the two White Fang guards through the night vision scope she had outfitted on Crescent Rose last year. If there was one thing Ruby may have liked about working for Ironwood, it was the million Lien annual budget that was just for her missions. Despite her inability to use Crescent Rose very often she had used that hefty budget to substantially upgraded the deadly weapon, among other things. The motion of the guards doing their hourly radio check brought Ruby back to the situation at hand.

"Penny can you track their comms?" Ruby asked.

"I can detect when they are active," Penny replied, "To understand what they are saying it will take me a bit to crack their encryption." Ruby considered for a bit before refocusing her sights on the guard speaking into the handheld radio. She reached down and let the familiar cold feeling take over again. She didn't know who the guards were other than White Fang, and right now, she didn't care

"Do what you can on the go." Ruby answered, "I don't want to be here very long. Tell me when the transmissions end." Ruby waited and steadied her breathing, slowing her heartbeat. She pulled all the slack out of Crescent Rose's trigger.

"Transmission just ended." Penny chimed in. Ruby didn't respond but watched as the guard put the radio back into his pocket.

One second, two seconds, breathe in, hold, exhale, squeeze. There was barely a sound coming from the modified suppressing dust barrel. The wind dust in it counteracted the majority of the escaping gasses, leaving no flash and little noise to alert potential enemies of her presence or position. Ruby didn't watch through the scope to see if her shot hit it's mark. She knew it would. Instead she racked the bolt on her weapon and focused on the other guard. Breathe, hold, exhale, squeeze. Quickly and quietly Ruby got up and moved towards the entrance to the hidden mountain lair. It was kinda cliche now that Ruby thought about it.

The mile or so to the entrance went quickly, it usually did when one had a speed semblance. As she looked at the entrance she found that they had a keycard reader recessed into the rocks next to the door. She then turned towards the now headless guardsmen lying on the ground nearby. A quick search of their pockets produced two keycards and their radio.

"Penny does this help?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, analysing now." Penny answered. "Complete, patching it in now."

"Alright, finally is the backdoor team, what's your status?" the voice of an unknown white fang grunt filtered through Ruby's earpiece.

"Backdoor here, all clear over here, we could use something to warm up though." that was clearly the security on the second entrance Annette was covering.

"I get it alright the mountains are cold at night." The first voice said, "I've already sent some guys to bring you hot coffee just be patient. Everybody seems to be doing fine, stay awake and I'll check back in an hour."

After confirming her attack hadn't been discovered yet, Ruby moved to the door and activated the keycard reader. The door slid open to reveal two White Fang grunts in front of her. One had a sword on his hip and two steaming mugs in his hands, the other had a pistol holstered at his side. Instantly deciding on the bigger threat to her mission, Ruby sent a semblance enhanced kick onto the pistol carrying grunts kneecap. It bent backward at an awkward angle, and he went down. The other dropped the mugs as he reached for his sword. At the same time Ruby grabbed the first grunt's head and twisted. While he fell to the ground dead Ruby grabbed the other grunt's wrist and pushed it down, forcing the sword back into its sheath. She followed up with a semblance enhanced punch which crushed the grunt's windpipe. As he silently died Ruby began to make her way through the White Fang base.

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Annette growled as she struggled to force back a yawn.

"Why'd we have to do this tonight?" She mumbled to herself, "Sure, Summers can sleep on the flight, did she ever think that maybe her pilot needs some rest?" There had been almost no activity on the area she was told to watch. Not since two White Fang members delivered some coffee to the guards at the entrance anyways. Still she kept the engines running and the chainguns armed. Summers apparently expected this mission to get loud quickly and wanted Annette to 'keep them from escaping' which probably meant lighting them up with enough ordinance to kill a goliath. While Annette was watching the entrance a ping from her instruments pulled her attention. A quick glance at her instrument panel told her the ping was her radar informing her of an approaching aircraft. It was likely a resupply for the White Fang base, something Summers would need to know about. Just as Annette was about to radio Summers, she heard several more pings coming from her radar. One, then two, then six, then ten! Ten gunship sized aircraft were coming towards the base. That wasn't a resupply, that was an assault force. Annette double checked the signatures on the aircraft. They registered as Atlesian military.

"Something's wrong." Annette mumbled while reaching for the radio again.

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Ruby was actually rather pleased with herself, she had managed to make it almost a quarter of the way through the base without setting off any alarms. Granted that was likely more due to the base being mostly asleep at this time than to her actual skill at silent takedowns.

"Summers you copy?" Annette's voice came through her headset. If Annette was breaking radio silence something was going on.

"Annette what's up?" Ruby said.

"We've got a lot of activity up here." Annette answered. At this Ruby's heart sank. Had there been a silent alarm she had missed?

"Ok well deal with them I don't want any of these guys escaping." Ruby answered.

"What? No." Annette's voice came back, "I mean there's a lot of airborne activity, something like ten Atlesian gunships coming towards us." Ruby paused as she heard Annette's explanation.

"Ironwood doesn't make mistakes like overlapping ops." Ruby said after a moment.

"My thoughts exactly." Annette replied, "Orders?"

"Stay out of sight." Ruby ordered, "Be ready to pick me up in a hurry."

"What do I do about the gunships?" Annette asked.

"Nothing until we confirm their allegiance." Ruby answered.

"Understood." As Annette signed off Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose. She had done well keeping her attack quiet so far, but she couldn't afford to take it slow now. She rocketed off in a flurry of rose petals and began to hunt down every important target she could find in the base.

When she reached the end of the base she exited to find some of the gunships Annette had warned her about already there. There were several Atlesian shock troopers tying up the White Fang who had tried to escape. She quickly holstered Crescent Rose before she was spotted. Not that it would matter if any of the White Fang had seen her earlier. One of the White Fang spotted her and let out what could only be described as a very girly shriek from what was clearly a man. Ruby would have laughed at the sight had it not been for the fact that every shock trooper in the area now had their weapons trained on her.

"Relax boys, Same side." Ruby said loud enough for them to hear her. When they didn't move Ruby continued. "I'm…"

"Colonel Scarlette Summers, Atlesian InOps." A voice said from the middle of the group. Ruby looked in the direction of the voice and saw a dark haired man in an MP uniform of all things. Though the overly large handguns on either hip were definitely not standard issue. "Surrender Colonel and you will be given a fair trial." Ruby didn't know where the information leak was but Ironwood was going to get an earful about it when she contacted him again. As for these guys it was likely someone trying to get power over Ironwood and figured she was his dirtiest little secret. She didn't have time for politics.

"Y'know I have this weird aversion to courtrooms, or public places in general really, plus I have a mission that is really time sensitive," While Ruby was talking she had Penny contact Annette, "so I will have to politely decline." Ruby finished. She could see the blacked out form of the stealth gunship rise behind the gunships gathered in front of her.

"That wasn't a request, Colonel." the MP in command responded.

"And I am not joking, Captain." Ruby replied while drawing two of Penny's swords, "I have no time for whatever politics this is about and I certainly don't answer to you." she then pointed one of the swords at the man. "So stand down."

The MP shook his head. "Take her!" he shouted to his men. Ruby watched as the two dozen or so Shock Troopers fired at her. Ruby activated her semblance and moved back, out of the way of the approaching bullets. She then braced herself to use her semblance at full power, much like she had in the cafeteria so long ago. It would be more difficult without being in an enclosed room but she had gotten much stronger and it was probably the quickest way out without killing everybody present. The Shock Troopers reacquired her as a target and fired again as she launched into her full semblance. While it didn't catch them into a vortex, the wind surrounding Ruby as she approached the sound barrier launched the troopers in her path away. Ruby came to a stop underneath Annette's gunship before using her semblance to lunch herself up into the bay.

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"Summers what's going on?" Annette called as she heard the sound of boots hitting the floor of the bay behind her.

"Don't know, might be something political, might not be." Summers said as she sat down in the seat behind Annette and strapped in. "either way these guys aren't friendly."

"Understood." Annette said as she pulled the gunship away. As she was doing so spotlights from the other gunships settled on hers. Annette pushed forward on the speed and shot out into the sky. The other gunship followed close behind, and within a few seconds began shooting at her. Annette growled as she heard some rounds ping off of her gunships hull.

"Those little..Hold On!" Annette shouted as she rotated one of her VTOL thrusters to spin her gunship. As soon as she faced the pursuing gunships she raced forward while bringing her own chaingun to bear. The bright silver-white aircraft made excellent targets at this time of night and one soon found its wing buckling under the fire of Annette's gunship.

"That's what you get for puttin' holes in my ship!" Annette shouted out. The other gunships turned around and soon an alarm was beeping in the cockpit of Annette's gunship.

"What's that?" Summers asked.

"Missile lock, these guys are serious." Annette said while reaching for a switch marked 'Flares'. The sound of flares firing signalled the end of the alarm beeping.

"Annette we need to either lose these guys or take them out." Summers spoke up.

' _I know that Summers.'_ Annette grit her teeth. She was pushing her gunship to it's limit which meant that the gunships and pilots chasing them were no slouches. At least the two that were still able to keep up, the rest had fallen behind. Searching for some way to shake the gunships chasing them Annette noticed the area ahead of them was filled with ravines and sharp depressions in the earth.

"Hang on to something Summers," Annette shouted out, "I'm going N.O.E. it might get a little close!" Without another word said Annette quite suddenly pointed the nose of her gunship straight towards the ground, and accelerated. She had to tilt the aircraft to even make it fit into the ravine at first but it quickly widened enough that it would even give Annette a bit of room to move side to side. One of the two other gunships followed them into the ravine. It almost immediately opened up it's chaingun on Annette's gunship. However before the bullets could connect the ravine turned sharply to the right. Annette was able to make the turn because she saw it coming, the other gunship did not.

"Where's the other one at?" Summers asked.

"Probably somewhere above us." Annette answered while pulling back on the throttle. Soon enough the image of a white gunship with a searchlight sweeping back and forth came into view of the canopy above them. "What do you want to do Summers? We could probably just slip away without them spotting us." Annette turned to look at Summers face. Summers was looking at the airship with that blank thoughtful look she had when weighing lives. Then as if a switch was flipped, Annette was Summers single silver eye take on all the coldness of the metal it was named for. It was a look that honestly scared Annette even to this day.

"No." Summers said cooly, "if we leave them they have the chance of finding us as we slip away, and… these guys ticked me off."

"Understood" Annette said as prepared to end the other gunships flight.

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"Summers" Annette's voice roused Ruby from her temporary slumber, "We're getting back into CCT range."

"Good." Ruby said as she got up and walked back into the cockpit of the gunship, "Get Ironwood on the line, I want to give him an earful for letting whatever politics he's dealing with interfere with my mission." Annette nodded and began working on the communications console in the cockpit. Almost immediately however the console beeped with a message.

"Oh, I guess he decided to contact us first." Annette said

"Odd," Ruby said, "what is it?"

"Let's find out" Annette said as she opened the message.

" _Summers,_ " Ironwood's face came into view on the comm screen, " _if you are receiving this then I am dead. Go ahead laugh, do your happy dance or whatever. My final request I hope you honor is this, finish your mission. I have set up a substantial untraceable fund to help, instructions to access it are in this message. And I have left little to no trace of you or Annette in the Atlesian database. I can't trust your mission to whoever is my successor, if you need higher support go to Ozpin or another headmaster. This is for the sake of the world please handle it, I am certain this is something only you can do. Good luck._ "

After that particular bombshell was dropped the two just stared at the screen for a few moments.

"Annette, Change our course, we're not heading back to Atlas." Ruby slowly said, before turning around and walking into the troop bay.

"Yes, ma'am" Annette replied, without her usual snarkiness.

 _What happens now?_ She thought.

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A/N: So yup another author's note in the same chapter. I have been writing this chapter in every free moment I've had since I put the last one out. And it's finally finished! WooHoo! Just for reference in case people don't know N.O.E. stands for Nape Of Earth, it's a military term for essentially when an aircraft flies really close to the ground. I'm still in school and military stuff is going to be getting crazy soon so I won't be able to do regular updates until after July. I'm not out of the game though hope this chapter proves that to y'guys.


	8. Chapter 8

" _Would team rWBY please report to the headmaster's office please_ " Glynda Goodwitch, " _again would team rWBY please report to the headmaster's office, thank you_ " the three remaining members of team rWBY looked across the cafeteria table at each other, more specifically at Yang.

"Don't look at me I didn't do anything" Yang said, "why do you guys always suspect me when we get called?"

"Because it's usually because of some prank you pulled" Weiss answered.

"Hey now those were comedy gold, and well worth it." Yang replied.

"Either way we should go and see what's going on." Blake interrupted the two, "lets go."

"Yeah okay." Yang said. The three nearly full fledged huntresses got up from their table and took a quick walk over to Ozpin's office. Once there Ozpin turned around in his chair.

"Ms. Xiao Long, Ms. Belladonna, Ms. Schnee, thank you for coming." Ozpin said, while motioning to some chairs he had set up in front of his desk.

"What's up Prof.?" Yang asked. Almost immediately Weiss smacked Yang on her shoulder.

"Yang!" Weiss then turned to Ozpin, "I apologize for the rudeness sir."

"Don't worry I expect that there will be much worse in the meeting to come." Ozpin said.

"Why is that Professor?" Blake asked. Without saying a word Ozpin passed a letter across the desk to them. Hesitantly Weiss picked up the letter and held it so her teammates on either side could read it.

 _Dear Mrs. Collins,_ _It is with a heavy heart that I write this to inform you, of the demise of your son Eric Collins. Eric served with me in the redemption Corps. He was a brave young man and whatever he had done in the past he more than repaid his debt to society by defending it against the grimm in the north. The world is less for the loss of such a man. It is my desire that he would be honored in death for the change he made in life. My condolences and my prayers be with you. I hope that whatever else you know, you know that your son was a good man when he died._ _Capt. Ruby Rose, Commander, Alpha Company, Redemption Corps, Atlesian Penal system._

After finishing the letter three Huntresses just sat and stared at it for several seconds before Ozpin cleared his throat and brought their attention back.

"This letter was delivered to me by a woman I've known for many years." Ozpin said, "Her son was tried and convicted of manslaughter, he chose to work in Atlas's Redemption Corps rather than serve the life sentence he was given. Mrs. Collins received this letter sometime ago and recently made the connection between this school and the signer of the letter."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Yang said standing up, "lets go get her!"

"Wait Yang the redemption Corps…" Weiss began before stopping and looking like she was trying to think through her wording

"The redemption Corps what?" Blake asked.

"It's a death sentence." Weiss finally said, "they send the worst criminals there to die in battle against the grimm."

"I don't care what's happened, I'm going to find my sister!" Yang said before turning to leave again.

"You won't find her there." Ozpin said causing Yang to pause. "The Redemption Corps was disbanded a couple of years ago. Do you remember team JNPR's report that they thought they saw Ruby?"

"Yeah Ironwood said that it was just an aid who resembled Ruby." Weiss said before it clicked, "that lying b-"

"It's likely that it was in fact Ruby." Ozpin interrupted, "however why James chose to hide her is a mystery we may never know the answer to."

"Unless we beat the reason out of him" Yang said, her eyes were already red.

"Unfortunately I received word this morning," Ozpin said, "James was murdered in his own home, they don't know ."

"Are you telling me we're back to square one." Yang asked angrily.

"Not quite," Ozpin said, "when the Redemption Corps disbanded all the surviving members were granted a full pardon and were released."

"If we can find some of them, they might still be in contact with Ruby." Blake finished Ozpin's thought.

"Precisely." Ozpin said, "Are you ready for a trip to Atlas?"

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"Ms. Summers?" Ruby looked up at the smartly dressed secretary. "Professor Lionheart is ready for you." Ruby couldn't find any weapons on the woman, not that she was in any place to judge. For the sake of a low profile Ruby had only brought a collapsible pistol and a telescoping shortsword, because they were easily concealable. Ruby had worn a fairly ordinary blouse and skirt, and had blonde hair and blue eye, other than her missing eye she looked just like another civilian.

"Thank you." Ruby answered before grabbing the case file she had on Neo's team and went to speak to the headmaster of Haven academy. Upon entering she was greeted by the image of a very regal looking lion faunus standing amongst piles and piles of books.

"Ah, Ms. Summers was it?" Lionheart said, "please come in have a seat."

"Thank you headmaster." Ruby said as she took a seat.

"So to what can I do for a young lady such as yourself?" Ironwood asked, "looking to be a huntress?"

"I actually already am one." Ruby answered showing him her huntress ID.

"I see, and at such a young age too, quite remarkable!" Lionheart complimented

"Thank you," Ruby replied, "I'm actually here on a mission for my late headmaster. Do you recognize this woman?" Ruby then showed Lionheart a picture of Neo in her disguise.

"No I can't say that I have," Lionheart answered, "who is this?" Ruby pulled out another picture of Neo this time without her disguise, she took note of how his eyes widened in recognition.

"She was a wanted criminal who managed to infiltrate beacon posing as a Haven student," Ruby replied, "her records were authenticated by someone here on staff."

"That doesn't seem possible," Lionheart answered, "I've never seen this woman before."

"that means either one of your staff is dirty or they managed to con one of your staff." Ruby said, "either way I'll be staying in the area to investigate. Let me know if you find anything would you?"

"O-of course," Lionheart hastily replied as Ruby rose to leave.

"Out of curiosity Professor," Ruby said before she left the office, "where are all your students?"

"Oh, uh, they are on field exercises right now." Lionheart said, "I believe in teaching by doing."

"I see." Ruby simply replied before leaving.

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"Annette" Ruby said as she prepared a message to her favorite pilot on her scroll, "something is wrong here, I want you on standby but move the ship to a more discreet location." she then sent the message while entering the establishment she had picked out. It was a joint inn and tavern in the middle levels of Mistal. She could tell that the place was popular as there were many patrons eating and drinking on the main floor. Weaving her way through the customers enjoying themselves Ruby made her way to the main counter.

"Hang on, hon, I'll be with ya' in a second" said a large burly woman behind the counter as she took two mugs to a nearby table. "Now what can I do fer ya'"

"Dinner and a room please" Ruby answered, "is that doable?"

"Sure is hon," the woman said while pulling out a paper form, "ya' got some ID on ya'?" Ruby wordlessly handed over her huntress license. The woman looked at the huntress license and then at Ruby. "well, that stinks hon, ya' can go out there and face people's wildest nightmares but ya' aren't old enough ta' drink yet are ya'" this caused ruby to chuckle a little.

"Don't worry I'm not one to miss out." Ruby said with one of her rare genuine smiles. The woman handed back Ruby's license and also gave her a menu.

"Go ahead and pick out a table I'll be over after I finish booking ya' a room." the woman said.

"How much will it be?" Ruby asked.

"The room'll be forty a night, and the meal is on the house tonight." the woman answered with a smile, "not everyday ya' get ta' thank one of the people who protect ya'"

"Thank you Ms.…?" Ruby started to say before realising she didn't know the woman's name.

"Oh! Names Beth, Beth Luna, but folks just call me Beth." she said.

"Well, Thank you Beth," Ruby said before introducing herself, "I'm Scarlette."

"Nice to meet you Scarlette, now go pick out what you want to eat I'll get the room ready." with that Beth went into the back and Ruby wandered over to a table in a corner. Ruby quickly looked over the menu and settled on a hamburger and fries meal. Once she had decided on what to order Ruby took the opportunity to observe the other patrons in the tavern. There weren't too many people obviously inebriated, it was still fairly early in the evening after all. Most of the patrons were talking with each other laughing, and being merry. Ruby did notice however that for most the smiles didn't reach their eyes, and many more didn't smile at all. There was a tense, hidden undercurrent of fear that flowed through the room. Many of those who were at the bar laughing and joking appeared to be doing so to forget their fear. Ever since the attack on Beacon and Vale, this tense atmosphere had been quite prevalent. For the first time in years people realized that they were not safe even in the heart of the kingdoms. However over time such tensions and fear had faded in most places. Even the last time Ruby had been to Mistral a large portion of the tension had vacated the city. To have it back now was somewhat odd. Before Ruby could give to much thought on that, Beth returned and took Ruby's order. When she brought back the food, Ruby asked her about the atmosphere.

"Oh, there's just been a bunch more grimm attacks recently," Beth answered, "there hasn't been enough huntresses and huntsman ta' go around, they're always so busy it's rare ta' even see any inside the city proper anymore."

"Wow," Ruby said, "I didn't realize that it was that bad here"

"Yeah, news is that the headmaster at the academy has sent for more ta' come from the other kingdoms to help." Beth said, "I thought that was probably what ya' were here for."

"Unfortunately no," Ruby said, "I came here working another mission, I might take a mission once I can complete my current one."

"Anything helps, ya' know." Beth said as another table called out to her, "sorry, hon, I best get back to work."

"Okay, thank you." Ruby said and began digging into her meal. _'Huh, it's strange that there is such crisis here, and it's not all over the news in other kingdoms'_ while Ruby was pondering the current crisis and eating her meal, she spotted a group of men enter the tavern. They didn't appear any different from the other patrons and the other patrons paid them no mind. However Ruby was immediately clued into the fact that they did not belong here by their actions. They didn't look for the bar so they could order, but instead scanned the crowd. These men were looking for someone, and seeing as nobody waved to them from the crowd, someone who didn't know them. When one of the men met her eyes, he jerked his gaze away and tapped another man, probably the leader, on the shoulder.

' _So, they're here for me, huh?'_ Ruby thought, _'the only person who should know that i'm here, especially with my current description should be Lionheart and his assistant.'_ they took a table and Ruby decided to finish her food quickly, as she didn't know whether the men were here with hostile intents or simply to deliver a message from Lionheart. As she was working on finishing her fries one of the men, the leader, came over to her table and took a seat.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doin' sittin' here all alone?" The man asked.

"Eating, mainly." Ruby said deadpan in between two of her fries. _'Probably not here to deliver a message if they are hiding that they know who I am, sort of.'_

"You got a name, sweetheart?" The man asked.

"Candice." Ruby said simply, again in between some of her fries. The man paused, looked at her, seeming to confirm that she was who he was looking for, then continued.

"Well, Candice," The man said, "let me get you a drink." He turned to look for the bartender and found Beth talking with a few patrons. He waved Beth over even as Ruby began to speak.

"No thanks dude." Ruby said, she finished off her fries at this point. The man seemed to ignore Ruby as he talked to Beth.

"Two bears please, one for me and one for my friend here." the man, who Ruby didn't even know the name of yet, ordered. Beth's eyes narrowed, looking first at the man and then at Ruby.

"Is this a friend of yours Scarlette?" Beth asked. Ruby knew that were this a normal situation right here would be the point to get the guy to stop hitting on her. But she also knew that the guy wasn't hitting on her but more likely trying to get her to separate from the crowd or let her guard down. Getting Beth to kick him out would likely cause them to try something here in the room. The chances of civilian casualties would be much higher in that case.

"We're getting there, don't worry about the bears, I'll explain it to him." Ruby said, "can you hold the key for my room for a bit? I'll pick it up in a little bit." Beth nodded and walked away and Ruby turned to the unknown man. "I'm underage for drinking." the man looked like he was about to say something more but Ruby interrupted him again. "Look, you want to play, we'll take this outside, Alright?" with that she got up and walked out of the tavern.

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Ruby didn't have to wait outside long just a few short minutes later the entire group, six men in total, left the tavern and started to tail her as she walked through the streets. She quickly led the men to a nearby alley. When she turned around several already had simple weapons, knives, batons, one had a normal pistol while another had a revolver. A few were surprised when she turned around, and the leader was heavily red faced, no doubt angry over his failed attempt to lower her guard. None of them seemed in the mood to talk.

"We'll do this just like we did the other huntress." the leader said and his men nodded. One drew a small cylinder out of his jacket and tossed it on the ground. Immediately smoke began to dispense from the canister, obscuring the entire group from Ruby's sight. She heard the sound of a hammer being pulled back on the revolver. Less than a second later the revolver fired, the bullet passing through the air where Ruby's head had been a second before. Taking the initiative Ruby flicked her wrists, deploying the collapsed short sword and pistol into her hands from their hidden holsters up her sleeves. She heard footsteps coming from her right as one of the men charged her from the side. Their coordination was good and a normal huntsmen or huntress could very well have been overwhelmed with trying to track all of them through the fog. Unfortunately for them they were not nearly silent enough to get the drop on Ruby. When the man charged in and swung his batton harmlessly through the air Ruby had been at previously. Instead Ruby stepped on the batton, pinning it to the ground, before swiping out and sending the man flying with the flat of her sword blade, his head twisted at an unnatural angle. She then raised her pistol and sent two rounds towards the direction the revolver shot came from. She was rewarded with a grunt and clattering sound as the revolver fell to the ground. Another man charged in from the other side also wielding a batton, Ruby quickly parried his first strike and delivered another directly to his midsection. Without Aura, the blade slid easily between the man's ribs, fatally wounding him. The two knife wielders charged in together to attack Ruby, who ducked under their first strike, with one hand she stabbed up at one of them and used her other hand to fire point blank at the other. The man she stabbed at barely jumped back in time while a shower of red accompanied the other man falling to the ground. Ruby then turned on the final knife wielder, using the longer range of her shortsword to great effectiveness. Before she could take the other knife wielder down however, the final gunman began firing wildly from outside the smokescreen. His wild shots struck his friend in the back first, and Ruby moved in and used the quickly expiring knife wielder as a body shield. She then took aim at the gunmen, who's wild shooting announced his location better than anything else at this point, and fired. She heard the sound of the gun clatter to the ground and moved to step out of the smokescreen. The whole battle had taken only a few seconds and so the smokescreen hadn't had the opportunity to clear yet. The gunman with the revolver was most certainly dead, one of Ruby's shots had hit him directly between the eyes, the other however, was the one who had been the leader and was currently clutching his shoulder trying to scoot away from the unharmed huntress. Ruby walked up to him and grabbed him by the caller.

"If you want to live, you will tell me who hired you." Ruby said calmly, "and I don't have any time for games."

"The headmaster guy! The headmaster!" the man replied with a healthy dose of fear.

"Of Haven?" Ruby asked, confirming her earlier suspicions.

"Yeah!" the man said, "don't know why but he said he wanted you out of the picture. That's it I swear!" Ruby nodded and dropped the man, she turned to walk away, before turning back around and putting a bullet in between the man's eyes.

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 **A/N: woah boy, another chapter done. I just had so many ideas for this chapter I figured I'd write them down, and then it took off from there. Anyways for those wondering I'm still working on my other stories, and actually pretty much at the same time (as that is something I find myself lacking a ton of) which makes it pretty confusing when I'm dealing with Ruby's with differing personalities, and morals, and fighting styles. I've been desperately trying to remember how Ruby fights in my Shadow's Rage story. Anywho got another chapter done, hope you enjoy.**


	9. Chapter 9

_Ruby's eyes slowly drifted open. The birds were singing and the sun was shining through her window. She looked around the room. There were posters of blueprints on the walls, several shelves were stacked with grimm figurines, and in the corner sat her Signal backpack._

" _Ruby wake up!" Yang shouted from downstairs, "You're going to be late for School!" The sleepiness fled from Ruby's mind when her sister said that._

" _Crap!" she jumped out of bed, already in her school uniform for some reason. "I'm gonna be late!" Ruby grabbed her cloak, her backpack, and her precious Crescent Rose and ran to the door. "Hi Yang, Bye Yang." Ruby grabbed the door handle and threw the door open. Instantly the world became dark, and instead of the front lawn Ruby had expected, she saw gravestones for as far as her eye could see._

" _W-what is this?" Ruby asked._

" _What you deserve." a gruff voice sounds behind her. Ruby turned around, gone was the house, gone was her family. More gravestones greeted her, standing in the center with a hole in his head was Ironwood. "You caused all of this." Ruby turned again to run away from the dead man, only to run into another._

" _Hey kid." Stephens said, suddenly appearing in front of her. "You ready to join us now?" Ruby turned and ran again running down seemingly endless rows of gravestones. She glanced behind to find that both men were standing right behind her, not moving, but still right behind her nevertheless. Because she wasn't watching where she was going, Ruby tripped and fell. Looking up she saw the men had disappeared as had the gravestones. Instead a dark forest filled with red eyes greeted her. She didn't have a moment to think before one of the red-eyed shadows jumped on her._

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Ruby's shot up out of bed, wishing, not for the first time, that she could wake up as peacefully as she did in dreams. She looked around the sparsely decorated hotel room she found herself in, a second bed sat empty besides the one she was sleeping. On the other side of the room sat an empty desk. Unlike in her dream, the sun was not shining, instead rain pattered against her window. That was actually perfect for what Ruby had planned for the day. The rain would drive most people inside, and would allow her to inconspicuously deviate from the outfit she used yesterday. Ruby reached under her bed to find the duffel bag she had brought with her. Reaching inside she brought out a red baseball cap and a grey hooded jacket. Ruby quickly dressed and left, paying Beth a simple "good morning" before walking out the front door. Ruby quickly made her way through the rain soaked streets towards the local Hunters Association. Mistral's Hunters Association was located in an open air plaza with a few small bunkhouses for visiting huntsmen and huntresses around the outside. In the center of the plaza was the mission listings, the active missions were displayed on the center screen, if a hunter had accepted the mission their name was listed next to it, along with the mission status. As Ruby looked over each of the missions she found that many of the missions already had been accepted, however the huntsmen and huntresses listed next to them were listed as overdue or M.I.A. This caused Ruby to frown. A few huntsmen and huntresses being overdue or M.I.A. was understandable, the Grimm were dangerous and often could be underestimated, but all of them? This was either a case of extreme negligence and mismanagement, or something much worse was going on in Mistal. Ruby spent the rest of the day checking out some of the names on the board. Ruby found once again that all of them were missing, furthermore after another stop at the H.A. she found that the names on the board were the vast majority of the huntsmen and huntresses registered with the Mistral Hunters Association, with only a few taking out of kingdom missions. The more Ruby investigated the more suspicious she became. Something was very wrong here, and she was going to get some answers.

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"Ugh, this is not working." Yang said, as they left the house of another person on the list, "why won't they help us?" the three huntresses were about as bundled as a person could get, except Weiss, Weiss was fine. The three were currently walking down the streets of Atlas.

"Maybe they don't actually know Yang." Weiss said, "Winter gave us the name of some people who MAY know something, not that they would know something."

"Fine." Yang said, "who's next?"

"Retired Colonel Faught." Blake said looking at the list on her scroll. The three walked mostly in silence until they reached the house number they were looking for. Weiss went up and knocked on the door.

"Coming!" they heard a voice from inside say from inside the house. After a few moments an older gentleman opened the door and looked at them. "Can I help you?" the man asked.

"Are you Colonel Faught?" Blake asked.

"Well nobody's called me that for a long time, but yes." Faught replied, "how can I help you?"

"Do you know a Ruby Rose?" Weiss asked. The man tensed up a little after she asked this. His friendly demeanor was still in place, but it was more guarded.

"That depends, who's asking?" he asked.

"I'm her sister." Yang said. Faught paused, his guarded expression giving way to surprise.

"Are you now?" Faught asked, "Short girl, dark red hair, silver eyes, red cloak?"

"That's the one." Yang said, "we're half sisters."

"I see, well, I've got some questions of my own then." Faught said while opening the door further allowing the girls to get a good look at him, and his empty sleeve. "Come on in." inside the house was warmly furnished and looked well lived in. "please excuse the mess, I've not had many visitors recently." Faught said after cleaning some news papers off of one of his couches.

"It's no problem Colonel" Weiss said as she and the others sat down on the couch, "I'm sure you weren't expecting visitors today."

"Oh, please, it's Mister" Faught said as he sat down, "I am retired after all." there was a few moments before Faught spoke again, "so, Ruby Rose." he said simply.

"Yes." Weiss said, "we recieved information that suggested she had been in the redemption corps?" she asked with a hint of concern.

"Ah, yes, I can see how that might be concerning." Faught said. "Strange story that one, Ruby was probably the only person in the history of Atlas to volunteer for the Redemption Corps."

"She volunteered?" Weiss asked incredulously, "why would she do something like that?"

"More like how could she do that." Blake said.

"I don't know why, she never told us her story." Faught said, "actually that's why I invited you here, because I hoped you knew and I was curious."

"We might know." Yang spoke up. Blake and Weiss both looked at her questioningly before turning back to Faught.

"That still doesn't answer how she was able to." Blake said, "She was fifteen, that's hardly close to the minimum age to enlist in any branch of the military, in any nation."

"When I first met her she wasn't Ruby Rose, she had a fake ID that was enough to fool our enlistment and drafting system and it told us she was eighteen." Faught replied.

"What was her name back then?" Blake asked. Faught seemed to pause a bit before answering,

"Scarlette Summers."

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Capt. Ranger stepped into the airdock terminal and took a breath of fresh air. The transport he and his men had come on didn't look military but was just about as comfortable as one. His team spread out behind him, each going to different shops and doing their best to look like tourists, returning locals, and businessmen. They were good at it too, he had picked from the best InOps had to offer. He also had dressed to look like a respectable bussinessman on a company trip. He began to walk over to the main concourse to have a cab called for himself. When he got there he began to walk over to the receptionist.

"Excuse me?" a young femenin voice asked next to him interrupted his walk. He turned to find a young girl with blonde hair and dark sunglasses standing before him. The sunglasses would have looked odd indoors were it not for the cane in the girls hand. "My boyfriend wandered off, can you tell me where flight 1530 is going to be at?" a quick look at the concourse showed that flight 1530 was going to be at gate 3 in one hour.

"Gate three miss." Ranger told her.

"Thank you." the girl said, "I've been waiting for him for twenty minutes. I'm just gonna go where the seats are."

"Alright have a nice day miss." Ranger said as the girl started to walk away, tapping her cane along the ground as she walked. He then went to the counter and called a taxi. When it arrived he went to go to Haven to see if he could get local assistance from the schools headmaster. The place seemed fairly deserted as he walked through the empty hallways. When he arrived at the headmasters office he knocked twice and waited. And waited. He knocked again with no response.

"Professor Lionheart?" Ranger asked. "I'm Capt. Ranger from Atlas, may I speak with you?" he tried the door handle as he spoke. The handle turned easily and the door opened. Inside the room was trashed, books lay everywhere some apparently cut in half and others with burn marks on them. The walls had fire damage and ice was still frozen on some of them. At the back of the room the windows had been broken outwards indicating something was thrown outside. Ranger rushed through the door and to the window. Outside in the courtyard was a still expanding pool of blood around the recognizable lion faunus.

"Professor!" Ranger said leaping down into the courtyard. Scattered around the courtyard were possibly hundreds of type 36 Atlesian standard bullet casings. They were joined by a several dozen AA-12 Valean Anti-aircraft ammunition, a round that Col. Summers requisitioned quite often. It was odd, because that particular round was no longer in service, Vale's already outdated Bullheads had switched over to the newer and smaller AA-16 rounds. Not many weapons people carried or even ones mounted on airships still used a round that size. Ranger quickly made his way over to the fallen headmaster, the man was riddled with bruises that looked like ones a person got when their Aura barely blocked a bullet. There were also several gunshot wounds that had gotten through the man's Aura. however the apparent cause of death, was that the man's head was sitting about an inch away from his neck at this point. Ranger quickly pulled out his scroll and snapped several pictures of the man, the courtyard and the office before bugging out, an agent of a foreign nation couldn't be found at the murder scene of a head of state without there being immediate suspicion that could cause a war. Ranger then called the rest of his team.

"Summers has been to work already here." He told them.

"Understood boss," One of his men answered, "do we have any other leads as to her location?"

"No, I…" Ranger paused, and thought about the events of that day. Summers was a master of disguise even with her missing eye. The only way she could disguise that however was specific hairstyles, or sunglasses. "Shoot. The girl at the airdock."

"What?" another of his men asked.

"She's not here," Ranger said, while checking his watch, "get back to the airdock look for the passengers of flight 1530, we're looking for a short blind girl with long blonde hair, red jacket, blue jeans red and white walking cane. The flight should be boarding any minute now." Ranger flagged down a cab and told them to rush him to the airdock. Upon arrival he rushed to gate three hoping that his men had at least been able to catch a glimps of the illusive spy.

"Hey boss they were mostly boarded when we got here." one of his men said.

"Where's the flight headed?" Ranger asked.

"Vacuo." the other said.

"Then we'll head there first and catch her when she gets off on the other side." Ranger said.

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 **A/N: well here we go yet another chapter down. I don't know why but this particular fic seems to be the easiest for me to write right now. I'm going to have to put some effort in making sure I'm updating the other ones as well. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and don't worry I will be writing the epic showdown between Ruby and Lionheart (It's really up to you if you think it's epic or not, it happens regardless).**

 **I also want to take a moment (and a bit of the platform here) to talk about something. In my civilian life I work as a soldier, I have worked as a bodyguard for political figures, and I have been thinking about persuing a career in local law enforcement, all this to say that I am very justice minded please keep this and an open mind in consideration of what I'm about to say. I know it is somewhat controversial right now. Innocent UNTIL PROVEN guilty. The way that the nation of america works with regards to crime and justice is this. Not innocent until accused. Right now the RWBY fandom is exploding with controversy over Vic, the (now former) voice actor for Qrow. Someone accused Vic of sexual misconduct, and Rooster Teeth fired him, along with several other organizations. I don't want this to turn into an argument here, but I will remind my readers of the law and the spirit of our nation. When ANYONE is accused of ANY crime the ACCUSERS must prove that the accused commited said crime. If such proof cannot be given then the accused is in fact innocent. It doesn't matter what crime it is, if it's shoplifting or murder, pirating video's or sexual misconduct, where there is no proof there is no crime. It's because of this that I would say I believe it is wrong what Rooster Teeth and other comapanies have done to this man, as they fired him for something that he is right now innocent of.**

 **Anyways if you disagree with me that's fine, I'm just talking about the law. I hope you enjoy the story regardless of your feelings on the matter.**


	10. Chapter 10

"What?!" Yang asked very suddenly, causing Weiss, Blake and Colonel Faught to look back at her.

"What's the matter Yang?" Weiss asked, quite perplexed.

"We know that name, don't we Yang?" Blake answered Weiss and asked Yang at the same time.

"The Specialist that came to school a few weeks back said her name was Scarlette Summers." Yang said. "If that was her then why…?"

"Don't worry Yang I'm sure it was just a coincidence afterall she didn't look like Ruby, there was no way I could see Ruby acting that way, and she was clearly an Atlesian Specialist, a huntress partnered with the military, Ruby was banned from any huntsmen academy, there's no way she could be one."

"Actually," Faught interrupted, "that explains a few things."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Ruby was the first and only person to willfully join the redemption corps, but we could never figure out why." Faught began to answer.

"Yes you said that already." Weiss confirmed.

"At the end of a redemption corps sentence, those who survived are given a full pardon and a huntsman license." Faught said, "Ruby is a huntress I handed her license to her personally."

"But Ruby was banned from being a huntress." Blake said.

"Was she banned from being a huntress, or banned from attending an academy?" Faught asked which caused the other three huntresses in training to pause and carefully consider. "Either way, I may be retired but I still hear things from some of my old colleagues, and your probably right."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Some of my buddy's told me about an organization with Atlesian InOps, I took notice of it because of the name." Faught said, "there's a spy high up in InOps that is known as Scarlette Summers, but the rumor is that it is actually a group of people pretending to be one person."

"How reliable are those rumors?" Blake asked.

"Considering the scale of feats attributed to this Scarlette Summers," Faught answered, "I would tend to believe it took a company of spies to accomplish them but…"

"But what?" Yang asked.

"If they are a group I have little doubt that their leader is Ruby"

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Ruby pushed open the large double doors of Haven academy's main hall. She noted the absence of a receptionist at the desk and the ultimately empty feeling of the building. Nevertheless she was not deterred, if Lionheart was not here then she would find him. He would give her answers today.

She worked her way towards his office, as she got close she could hear voices coming from the other side.

"I thought you said that this couldn't be traced back to me?!" Lionhearts voice called out, "so why do I have one of Ironwoods toy soldiers poking her nose in where it doesn't belong?!"

"I never promised you that," Another voice this one male, and sounding very Atlesian, "why don't you ask Cinder how she blundered her cover." Ruby tensed at the name of her target being thrown around.

"Yes, Cinder, and where is she right now so that I can do that?" Lionheart's voice demanded, putting a little bit of bite into the name. "This is the line she gave me to contact her."

"She is indisposed of at the moment, other plans, other machinations you understand." the other voice answered, "not like I can really tell you where she is anyways." Ruby had heard enough and she felt like it would be the perfect opportunity to add a little bit of the dramatic flair she tried to add to her espionage persona every now and then.

"How about me?" Ruby said as she pushed open the door to the headmasters office and strode in confidently. "Mind telling me where Cinder is?" the other voice in the room was coming from a holographic projection on Lionhearts desk. It was a dark haired man with a large bushy mustache who looked very much like a sort of dapper intellectual.

"Ah, Miss Summers, this is, ah…" Lionheart began to say.

"Stow it Professor I'll deal with you in a moment." Ruby said sternly before turning her attention to the hologram, "You. Are you a friend of Cinder Fall?"

"Friend would be a little much, we're more of… workplace associates." the man in the hologram said, "Aurther Watts at your service, and who might you be?"

"Summers, Scarlette Summers." Ruby answered.

"And why would you be seeking Cinder Miss Summers." Watts asked.

"To kill her." Ruby answered.

"Well, as much as I would love to see that" Watts said with a mischievous smile, "that incompetant still has her uses so I will have to decline your offer."

"Watts! Do something!" Lionheart shouted.

"And what could I do? Hm?" Watts turned towards Lionheart, "I'm quite possibly on the other side of the world right now, how would I be able to save you from an assassin in your own office."

"An assassin?!" Lionheart sounded incredulous.

"I can't believe you didn't notice, are all headmasters arrogant fools?" Watts said almost under his breath, "listen here, you are a tool and at the moment not even a very useful one, why would I divert resources to assist you?" he then turned to Ruby, "Miss Summers, If you are even the slightest bit more competent than this buffoon I'm sure we will meet again so until next time." The hologram disappears as the call was disconnected from the other end. Lionheart just stares at the empty space where it stood moments ago. The silence stretched on for a bit before Ruby interrupted it.

"Well I guess that solidifies what I'm here to do." Ruby said. Lionheart snapped out of his trance.  
"Did Ironwood know? Is that why he sent an assassin?" Lionheart asked softly.

"Strictly speaking, I'm not an assassin, I'm more of a counter terrorist." Ruby said. "But when it comes to finding terrorist, I also fulfill the roles of Judge, Jury, and executioner."

"And Cinder is your current target?"

"Yes."

"What would you do with me?" Lionheart asks.

"Normally? Questioning, possibly trying to turn you to my side but…" Ruby answered while she fingered the release for the blade up her sleeve.

"'But' what?" Lionheart asked.

"You've killed a lot of huntsmen haven't you?" Ruby said. There was an almost inaudible click as she pulled the wire like release lever and the small blade jetted into her hand. As she did so however, It was only her finely tuned battle instincts that allowed her to avoid a fiery surprise attack from the exposed traitor.

"You didn't think it would be so easy did you?" Lionheart said, "I am a headmaster after all!" he shouted as he launched another fireball at Ruby. Ruby in turn pulled the release on her other wrist ejecting the compact pistol into her hand as she dodged the fireball. She brought it to bear on the Lion Faunus and began firing. Lionheat quickly used his weapon, some form of dust infused buckler to deflect the incoming rounds before he unleashed a chilling elemental attack at Ruby. Ruby quickly realised that Lionheart held the advantage with his dust based attacks in the tight spaces of his office. Thinking quickly Ruby summoned her full semblance and launched her shoulder into his chest, taking both of them out of the window of his office in one swift movement. They then fell three stories to the courtyard down below, Ruby used Lionhearts body to cushion the blow to her own aura before leaping off of him and out of the way of another elemental blast fired at close range, she was close enough to feel the heat of the blast as she jumped out of the way. She brought tossed her pistol into her other hand, so she was holding both blade and gun in the same hand before turing and emptying yet another magazine into the headmasters shield. With her free hand Ruby pulled out her scroll and selected one of the two contacts in her list.

"Hey Summers, what's…?" Annette didn't get the chance to finish as Ruby interrupted.

"Ordinance package alpha to my location, Now!" Ruby said before tossing the scroll to the side and dodged yet another meteoric fireball attack. Though it felt like an eternity later a rocket pod, similar to the rocket propelled lockers Ruby had used in her first year, landed nearby. Ruby used a timed execution of her semblance to reach the pod, slide over it, and grab her favorite weapon out of it just as the pod opened. On the other side of the pod Ruby retracted her hidden weapons and charged the bolt on Crescent Rose. She felt her battle senses tingle again as she jumped out from behind the pod as another elemental attack blew it apart. She then brought her much heavier rifle to bear on the Faunus's shield. The unexpected change in force behind the bullets caused Lionhearts buckler to be knocked out of position of half of a second. A half of a second that Ruby was more than happy to take advantage of as she dashed into Lionhearts guard and delivered a strike directly to his chest, or she would have if his aura had been weeker. Instead Ruby used another shot from her weapon, this time directly to the Aura surrounding his chest, to propel herself backwards and out of reach of his hands. Ruby then followed up with several more rounds, striking at wherever his shield was in the least capable position to block. Ruby felt like she was close to ending this particular fight when Lionheart called out.

"I will not be beaten by you!" He shouted as he unleashed a wide area dust strike, knocking Ruby back and breaking her Aura. Now Ruby was mad. She used her semblance to dodge the next few elemental attacks while she pulled a dark gravity dust crystal out of her pocket. She jammed the crystal into Crescent Rose's dust chamber, the one she had added during her Redemption Corps days. She then used her semblance at full power to jet directly at Lionheart. Lionheart in turn moved to block her with his shield, exactly what Ruby wanted. Planting her feet on Lionhearts shield, Ruby brought the barrel of Crescent Rose flush with the shield, right next to her foot, and fired. The shot broke the mechanism holding Lionhearts shield together causing the various components of the mechashift weapon to fly in different directions, it then impacted with Lionhearts arm and shoulder, breaking his aura. Ruby used the recoil to launch herself into a spin bringing around the blunt end of Crescent Rose around to smack Lionheart to the ground. Then she spun the hefty scythe in one hand to bring it around and deliver one finial strike to the soon to be former headmaster.

"W-wait!" Lionheart cried, "HE'S LYING TO YOU!" Ruby's blade stopped just short of beheading the man, the blade having caused a small nick that was drawing blood.

"Talk." Ruby said.

"I asked the Relic," Lionheart began, "Ozpin doesn't have a plan, he's just faking it, there's no hope of winning this war." Ruby was really confused as to why Lionheart was bringing up Ozpin.

"The heck are you talking about?" Ruby said.

"Y-you don't know?!" Lionheart said. "Listen you don't know what your getting into, there are things out there worse than Cinder, things so terrifying they're like having your worst nightmares become reality."

"I already know that." Ruby said.

"Y-you do?" Lionheart said.

"Yes, I know my worst nightmare is real." Ruby said, leveling a glare at Lionheart, "You're looking at her." then Ruby pulled the trigger.

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Ruby adjusted the grip on the cane she had just purchased to sell her current disguise. Oddly enough the whole ensemble only cost her twenty-four lien. As she walked into the main terminal of the airdocks Ruby spotted a group of men getting off of one the airships that had just arrived. Any normal person would have thought that they had no relation to each other and that they were just random tourists, businessmen and returning Mistralli natives, but Ruby wasn't a 'normal person' by any stretch of the imagination. She was clued in by how aware of their surroundings the men were, they were far to attentive for a tourist or someone who finally was home, or even a businessman who had a ride to catch. Then there was the way they moved and stood, slightly stiff, purposeful steps and a basic warrior stance accompanied their every movement. They were military, that much was obvious, the fact that they were actually managing to disguise that fact to Mistralli customs officials meant that they were rather competent at their infiltration techniques. There were three things that told Ruby exactly who these men were, first they were operating on foreign soil in large numbers, they were from Atlas. Second, they could blend so not Special Ops Command. Third they moved together and in a hidden tactical formation, so not Military Intelligence. Ruby smirked as she recognized exactly who these guys were, her supposed agency, Atlesian InOps. Looking at the group she suddenly recognized the captain that had tried to arrest her on her last operation. She knew she should just walk by them without ever making contact, that was the smart thing to do, but she always was a little more adventurous than that. She slowly walked up to the captain, making sure to tap her cane and meander a bit, keeping her disguise intact.

"Excuse me?" Ruby started before realizing she needed a story, she quickly came up with one and a way to sell it. "My boyfriend wandered off, can you tell me where flight 1530 is going to be at?" a quick look at the concourse had showed her that flight was bound for Vacuo, where she had no intention of being anytime soon.

"Gate three miss." The captain answered.

"Thank you." Ruby began and continued for the sake of selling her story, "I've been waiting for him for twenty minutes. I'm just gonna go where the seats are."

"Alright have a nice day miss." The captain called out as she walked away. Once Ruby was safely away from the crowds and on her way onto the launch deck for the airdocks, Ruby ditched her disguise and headed towards Annette's gunship.

"Hey, Annette." Ruby said as she set her bags down under one of the seats in the gunship.

"Summers," Annette nodded, "where too?" Ruby paused and considered her next step. She had always had a feeling the there were things Ironwood was holding from her, but she had decided not to press at the time. However even after telling Lionheart that she worked for Ironwood he seemed to think that she somehow reported to Ozpin, almost as though Ironwood reported to Ozpin, or at the very least worked together. It made Ruby wonder if Ozpin also ran Vale's espionage department, which would certainly explain some things about the mysterious headmaster. Either way Ozpin would know more about the situation and was probably her best lead at the moment. While she was considering this Annette spoke up again.

"Just throwing this out there but we can't keep living out of hotels and the gunship between missions." Annette said. This pulled Ruby out of her musings.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Well, it's ok if I'm only going to be at an airdock for a few hours, but it looks suspicious if I stay here for an extended time period." Annette said, "we need a base of operations, a place where people won't ask questions if we're constantly running around and…" Annette motioned around the passenger bay which was currently filled with bedding two full duffel bags and several crates of parts, "we need a place to store our stuff." Ruby thought for a moment before getting an idea.

"We're headed to Vale." Ruby said simply, "I've got an idea for a base of operations don't worry."

Annette nodded and went into the cockpit to take the airship out.

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Junior looked again at the note he had found on his doorstep this morning, the other gangs in the area weren't taking him seriously anymore. Without Melanie and Miltia he just didn't have the same amount of fighting power, the other gangs thought that they could extort protection money from him. While he was still staring at the note, or rather the demand one of his men tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" he asked in an exasperated tone, after looking at the guys face however he paused. The guy had been with him for a while and was certainly not squeamish but right now the man was as pale as a ghost. The guy pointed towards the front door and junior looked out over the dancing crowd to see a girl in a red cape walk into the bar. As if the day could get any worse Red was back, and making a beeline for him. Once she pushed her way through the crowd, and Juniors guards, he'd remember that, she came up to talk with him.

"Junior how's it been?" Red asked while taking a seat at the bar.

"Not good, Red, thanks to you mainly." Junior said, Red seemed to notice the note sitting in front of him, there was no way she could read it at that angle right. Then she smirked, guess she could read it

"Well Junior, maybe we can help each other." Red said with that awful smirk on her face.

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 **A/N Guess who did not die in the deserts of Atropia! (Cutos to anyone who knows where that is.) Anyways I'm back for a little while before the Army decides to send me off to only God knows where again. I hope this time Lionheart fought was a little better than in the show, I'll admit to that being a bit of a letdown. I didn't even realise how much until I watched it again to research his fighting style for this chapter specifically. Also I don't know why specifically but this story just seems to flow out of my creative juices a little easier than any of my other current ones. I am still working on the other ones however, just at a little bit of a slower rate, with quite a few more writers blocks. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this chapter and let me know what you guys think. (responses help me know if people are actually still interested in this).**


	11. Chapter 11

Ruby heard the door to her new room slam shut.

"Y'know Summers," Annette said from the doorway, "when you said you had a place for us to stay I didn't think you meant a room on top of a nightclub."

"I know the guy who owns this place." Ruby said not looking up from her current project which was spread across the floor of the small hideout.

"That much I could figure out." Annette said, "it's the way everyone here pales and makes themselves scarce when you show up." Still Ruby didn't look up, "you have that effect on people, what are you working on anyways?"

"Really I hadn't noticed," Ruby said, "as for my little project, this," Ruby motioned to the various parts and pieces all over the floor, "is Penny"

"Your talking weapon?" Annette asked and sat down next to Ruby, "why'd you take her apart?"

"Penny is facing the same problem I had with Crescent Rose." Ruby said as she began putting parts back together, "the average civilian won't recognize her but I needed to make some modifications to make her unnoticeable to the people hunting us." Ruby said as she slipped a red colored blade into the same spot Penny's older blades had been.

"Okay, I think people might still recognise it when someone starts using twenty odd swords against them." Annette said. By now Ruby had mostly assembled the her old friend. Penny's base form was now that of a belt with drop pouches on either side.

"Going back to the nightclub thing." Annette began as Ruby finished and began getting dressed, "what are we going to do about sleeping? You know how these places are at night right?"

Ruby shrugged as she donned a black trench coat over her current outfit.

"Sleep during the day, the windows have blackout curtains for a reason." Ruby said.

"I don't think that's what those are for Summers" Annette said. Ruby's only response was another shrug.

"Penny time to wake up." Ruby said as she slipped in her earpiece.

"Online! Friend Ruby!" Penny said, "this feels a little different."

"I told you I was going to do a complete overhaul." Ruby said, "nothing feels bad does it?"

"Nope!" Penny said, "everything is A-Okay!" Ruby nodded and put the finishing touches on her new disguise. She then turned to the mirror and a single red eye scanned her disguise. Her outfit was not dissimilar to what the goons around juniors wore, by design. Black slacks and a white collard shirt were covered by a black trench coat, a black fedora with red accents sat on her head. Her hair dyed a darker shade of black covered her eye patch and a red handkerchief covered her lower face. After confirming everything was in place Ruby turned back to Annette.

"I've got a meeting to go to," Ruby said, "I won't be back till later." Annette simply nodded and watched Ruby go out the door.

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Ozpin sighed, it had been a long night. With Glynda taking the weekend off, taking care of any disturbances in the student dorms fell to Ozpin, a task he would much rather delegate. With a ding the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to his office. Instantly Ozpin knew something was off. He hadn't placed a barrier around his office, it was a tremendous waste of his already limited magical capacity, but still Ozpin could feel it, someone had been here. Or rather someone was still here.

"It's about time professor." A voice said from behind his chair as it turned around, sitting behind it was a small figure which, judging by the hair and other features, was a girl. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to meet with you." most of the girls facial features were hidden but Ozpin could clearly see the familiar pairing of red eyes and dark black hair.

"Really now and you are?" Ozpin said as he walked over to his coffee pot in the corner and poured himself a fresh mug, it was going to be a long night indeed.

"You can call me Vulture." the girl said. Bird names again, if she wasn't somehow related to the Branwens he would be surprised at this point.

"Well Miss Vulture may I ask what it is that you want?" Ozpin asked, his eyes narrowed, this is where he learned what kind of person this was.

"I want information." Vulture said. "Does the name Aurther Watts mean anything to you?" Ozpin tightened the grip on his cane, how did this person know that name?

"Ah, I see it does." the girl said, Ozpin was surprised he knew his expression had been schooled to reveal nothing which meant that this girl must have noticed the minute contraction of the muscles in his hand. That level of attention had terrifying ramifications in a fight.

"Nevermind, I didn't come here to talk about him but rather his partner," The girl propped her feet up on Ozpin's desk, "Cinder Fall."

"Yes, well I have neither heard or seen hide nor hair of her since she attacked my school." Ozpin said and pulled up another chair, one of the ones he used when he needed to see students in his office, they were not as comfortable as his chair.

"I would prefer if we do not lie to each other professor," Vulture said, "It is part of why I have not asked who you really are, as I would prefer you do not ask that question either, But I'm not stupid," Vulture sat up in her chair, "and neither are you, so my question is what is the cost of information on Cinder?"

"What are you wanting to know about her?" Ozpin said before taking another sip of his coffee.

"Everything you know." Vulture said, "what is the price?"

"If I were to tell you your soul would you take it?" Ozpin asked seemingly offhandedly.

"Yes." Was the reply, Ozpin looked closer at the girl, no the woman sitting before him. There was something vaguely familiar about her, probably her resemblance to Qrow, but in that red iris he saw something he recognized. He had seen that look before, the look of someone who had convinced themselves that they were nothing more than a weapon, the look of someone who considered themselves irredeemable but still useful. A remorseful killer. There were some things that couldn't be explained by modern science, some elements of Aura, and the human soul itself, that couldn't be faked. This woman carried the weight of many dead. Ozpin leaned back in the uncomfortable chair.

"The cost of that information is trust." Ozpin said, "If you wish to know the truth of this matter, I must trust you."

"What is truth?" the girl mumbled to herself, "what do you require of me." Ozpin thought for a moment. If he was going to use this girl like his other agents he needed to know to things, if she was skilled enough to face the horrors in the dark and if she could be trusted with those horrors.

"The leader of the local White Fang chapter is a man named Adam Taurus, he is in hiding with his subordinates somewhere here in the industrial section of Vale." Ozpin began, "He was heavily involved in the attack on my school."

"What do you want me to do?" Vulture asked.

"I want nothing, I am just a teacher after all." Ozpin said before finishing his coffee, "teachers do however give tests, this is yours."

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Ruby was still thinking about what Ozpin had said when she went to meet up with Juniors men and fulfill her 'rent' obligations. She wasn't entirely sure what he wanted her to do with that information. What would make him think favorably towards her? Should she turn Adam into the authorities? Get information from him? In all honesty she probably would've just killed him, but now this was a test. Then again maybe the test wasn't what happened to Adam but whether or not Ruby could find him, Ozpin hadn't given an exact location after all. Shaking the thoughts from her mind Ruby decided to focus on the task at hand. Secure her lodging by beating up two bit thugs and making sure they wouldn't challenge Junior again.

"Miss Red!" that was one of Juniors men up ahead. "You're here!" Ruby gave the man an 'are you serious?' look.

"What's Junior need done?" Ruby asked.

"He just needs you to back him up at this meeting," The goon answered, "it's probably going to turn into a fight." Ruby allowed a smirk to appear on her face. She had removed pulled down her mask beforehand, in Vale's underworld the only people who wore masks were the common street thugs, or the White Fang, those connected with bigger gangs or families had no reason to hide their faces.

"That's fine," Ruby said, "I could use a good fight." with that Ruby rounded the corner to where junior was standing with a few of his men.

"Red." Junior said in greeting.

"Junior." Ruby replied in kind.

"Thought you might be late." Junior said as he motioned for his goons to head back inside.

"I keep my agreements." Ruby said.

"Good." Junior replied, "here they come." Ruby looked and sure enough several figures stepped into the area. The one in front, who acted like the leader, wore a white dress shirt that was mostly unbuttoned, black slacks, a gold chain and sunglasses, at night. Ruby had to school her face to keep from shaking her head. The others wore different clothing but most had some form of matching tattoo, except for one. A kid who couldn't have been older than thirteen or fourteen stood next to the boss of the group. He wore light grey slacks and vest with a blue collared shirt. His blonde hair was long and done in a ponytail, if Ruby wasn't more observant she might have thought the kid to be a girl. Ruby immediately picked up on a few clues, the fact that the kid was there in the first place, the way he walked next to the boss while the rest of the goons held back, and the confidence he exhibited. The kid was an Aura user, not a veteran by a longshot, but he was still the biggest threat in this group of thugs.

"You got our money Junior?" The boss of the group asked.

"I've got money, yes, what do I get for it." Junior said.

"Didn't we say in our letter?" the boss laughed, "you get our protection."

"Ah I see, well I have no need of your protection, so thanks but no thanks." Junior said.

"Junior the underworlds gettin' more and more dangerous," The guy said, "your guys used to cut it but without an Aura user, you're just plum out of luck." the goons behind him laughed, "I'm a nice guy so I'll let you reconsider, we wouldn't want anything to happen here now would we?"

"I don't need to reconsider it, now get lost." Junior said.

"Shame." the guy said, "Ashe if you would please." Ruby felt a spike of killing intent as the young Aura user disappeared in a puff of smoke. Ruby used her semblance and saw him reappear behind Junior, a knife was headed right for Juniors throat. Ruby quickly and calmly grabbed the knife with two of her fingers before allowing the world to return to normal. Junior was shocked, the kid was shocked, the goons and their boss were shocked. Nobody but Ruby could have a clear picture of what just happened. Ruby used the knife as leverage to pull the lightweight teenager over Junior and herself to land in front of her, so that she was between Junior and him. The kid landed in a crouch, with his knife in a backhand style, good for stabbing not for slicing, which was exactly what this kid had been trying to do. The kid lunged again, but at Ruby this time, she grabbed the knife, twisted, and delivered a palm strike to the kids chest, simultaneously ripping the knife away from him and sending him back towards the other goons.

"I'd like you all to meet my new hire." Junior said, "this is Red, she's a huntress." the other goons eyes seemed to bulge.

"What?!" the boss shouted, "how the heck could you afford a huntress?!"

"Red's an...old friend." Junior said, "and information is a very lucrative business."

"Listen miss Red, This guy can't pay you like I…" the boss stopped talking when he heard something dig into the cement at his feet. He looked down to see the knife Ruby had taken from the kid embedded in the ground between his feet.

"I believe I told you to get lost." Junior said. The boss and his goons soon scrambled out of the area, the kid took a little longer looking at Ruby dazed and a little awed, before he too took off.

"If that's all Junior…" Ruby said.

"Yeah thanks for your help Red," Junior replied, "glad to be on the receiving end for once."

Ruby nodded and walked inside. The night was already in full swing, music pulsing and the drinks flowing, Ruby took no mind of it as she turned her thoughts back to her conversation with Ozpin. She knew from her time with team RWBY that the White Fang held regular recruitment meetings. The last time they needed info on the White Fang, Blake had gone with Sun into the recruitment. She could try to get in but without any extra appendages it might be difficult. Ruby entered her room and began taking off her disguise. The question she was asking her self was where could she find a Faunus to help her…

"Hey Summers how'd it go?" Annette asked from behind. Ruby whirled to look at her pilot in her green eyes, then her eyes drifted a little higher to the silver cat ears sitting atop her head. "Summers?"

"Hey Annette, you ever wanted to go undercover?"

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 **A/N Alrighty another chapter done, Adam should be shivering right about now. Also Annette is about to get in over her head. I'm a little disappointed nobody decided to comment on my deserts of Atropia reference, but oh well. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, It was a pain to write as I've had to do it while battling allergies from something in the air of the most recent place the Army has had me working. That aside, enjoy leave a review, and I'll talk to you guys again when I get the next chapter done.**


	12. Chapter 12

Ozpin couldn't believe what he was hearing. Could he really have misjudged somebody so?

" _It's my pleasure Professor, I'll see you around."_

"Professor, did you hear me?" the voice of councilor Baillergeon asked.

"I'm sorry but I recognise that name." Ozpin said.

"Yes we had heard that she recently went on a mission to Beacon though we were not made aware that she made herself known." another voice said, this one belonging to a dark haired Atlesian officer.

"In any case I assure you councillors, that I am more than capable of defending myself." Ozpin said.

"Ozpin this Scarlette Summers has already targeted and killed two extremely skilled headmasters." a female councilor said. "You must understand that we need to take precautions."

"And you think that anybody from Atlas would be capable of defeating a threat that I am not able?" Ozpin said raising an eyebrow.

"Shade academy has already bolstered the defences around their headmaster," Councilor Baillergeon said, "this is the council's decision and you will abide by it Professor." Ozpin ground his teeth behind his mask, he really didn't like this man, not since the breach.

"My men will be there in a day." the Atlesian officer, Ranger something, said.

Ozpin sighed as the call ended and the holographic terminal closed. This was going to complicate things. He was surprised when his desk lit up with another call. It was from team (R)WBY.

"Yes?" he said as he brought up the image of the three girls. They were standing somewhere in Atlas at the moment, "Did you find anything?"

"We got a name." Blake said.

"She was there Ozpin!" Yang said.

"Excuse me?" Ozpin said.

"We don't know that for certain Yang." Weiss said, "We've got a name she is linked to, professor."

"Oh, and who could that be?" Ozpin said, he was maintaining the stoic face but he was ecstatic that they found something.

"It seems Ruby may be going under the name or in some way linked to the name Scarlette Summers." Blake said.

"In other words the same girl that was there a month ago!" Yang said. Ozpin's excitement over finding something about his wayward student turned to dread.

"I see…" Ozpin said considering his options, "tell no one about this and come back as soon as possible."

"But-!" Yang said.

"I'm serious about this Ms. Xiao Long." Ozpin said, "If Ruby is really associated with that name she may be in very big trouble. Come back immediately." Yang seemed to deflate.

"Yes sir." It was Weiss who spoke and then ended the call. Ozpin sighed again, this was really going to complicate things.

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"What am I doing here?" Annette mumbled into her earpiece.

"Gathering information and keeping an eye out for a certain bull-headed Faunus." came her bosses reply over the secure line. There was a pause before "Like bull-headed in the literal sense not the figurative."

"I get it, let me rephrase the question." Annette said, "Why am I the one doing this? I'm a pilot not a field operative!"

"We're both out here on the run from Atlas and you're worried about that?" Summers answered back, "Besides I haven't quite figured out how to disguise myself as a Faunus yet, but I'm working on it." Annette sighed and looked back at the warehouse, the faint scratch marks on the corner of the building making it abundantly clear what it was used for.

"Okay, so how do I do this?" Annette asked.

"It shouldn't be that difficult just walk in there and see if someone meets with you." Summers said. Annette shook her head and walked up to the building. She went up to one of the doors and knocked on it. A young man with blonde hair and freckles opened it. At first Annette was concerned that they were wrong as she didn't see anything Faunus about the boy. The boy however saw Annette's ears and decided they were real enough as he opened the door more and let her inside. Annette saw that he was indeed wearing a white fang uniform but without the mask and he had a blonde lion's tail to match his blonde hair.

"Right this way." the boy said as he led her into a small office space. In the room he motioned for her to take a seat on one of the couches in the lobby of the office. He then went to one of the doors and knocked on it before returning to his post down the hall. After a few moment the door opened and an elderly gentleman with grey hair, grey beard and long grey bunny ears.

"Oh ho." He said, "Another young recruit, eh? What's your name, girl?"

' _Oh, crap what do I say?!"_ Annette mentally freaked out for a second, "S-summers, sir"

"Oh? Your using my alias?" She could practically hear Summers smug grin from the other side of the line.

"No need to be nervous my dear," the man said as he sat on a chair across from her, "What brings you to the White Fang?"

"Alright I'll help you through this, repeat what I say exactly." Summers said.

"My sister actually." Annette said.

"Oh? That's a bit different of an answer than most." the man said.

"W-well, she was a huntress in training, B-but she left after the attacks." Annette parroted.

"And she needs a place to hide out now is that it?" the man asked, to which Annette nodded. "Why isn't she here today then?"

"B-because, she's lying low." Annette said, exactly how Summers was telling her to say, she may not be a field operative, but she knew Summers was and she could most definitely spin a coherent web of lies, "She won't leave her safehouse until I can get a place for her."

"I see, we're not a protection agency however," the man said, "we're an army fighting for Faunus liberation everywhere! If you or your sister want a place among us then you must be willing to fight for our cause!"

"S-she will! she just doesn't want her old friends to know about her doing it." Annette said. The man sighed

"One moment." he got up and went back into his office.

' _This is it.'_ Annette thought, _'this is where I'll die, because my bosses lies weren't good enough.'_ After a few hours or maybe it was just minutes, Annette wasn't sure which, the man entered the room again.

"Your sister did she study at Beacon?" the man asked.

"Uh, yes." Annette answered.

"Does she know someone named Blake Belladonna?" he asked, tiredly like he was tired of this question.

"Um, I don't know, but maybe?" Annette answered. The man sighed again and handed Annette a piece of paper with an address on it.

"If she does then go to this address, make sure your sister goes with you." the man answered, "if not don't bother showing up here again. I have no use for cowards"

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Back at the apartment Ruby was looking through her scroll terminal while waiting for Annette to get back. The OP hadn't gone perfectly but it hadn't gone wrong either so Ruby was gonna count it as a win. What really had Ruby's attention was how the man had brought up Blake's name, and made it clear that information on her was worth protection from the White Fang. Ruby knew that Blake had left the White Fang and they might consider that traitorous and try to 'make an example' of her, but Blake left years ago for them to still be after her meant something else. As Ruby was contemplating this her terminal beeped. When she look at the screen her eyes widened in surprise.

"Hooolllly crap." Ruby said, she didn't have the access to Atlas' massive database anymore, they could easily track access to that, but she had Penny and Penny could easily hack into any number of government databases in Vale. Low and behold there stood her answer.

Blake Belladonna

Mother: Kali Belladonna, (chieftess of Menagerie)

Father: Ghira Belladonna, (chief of Menagerie, Former leader of the White Fang)

Known associates:

White Fang: (all ties cut)

Adam Taurus

Illia amitola

Sienna Khan

Beacon:

Weiss Schnee

Ruby Rose (deceased)

Yang Xaio Long

Juane Arc

Nora Valkyrie

Pyrrha Nilkos

Lie Ren

Ruby couldn't believe what she was reading, the Valean government knew about Blake's past, Blake was basically an actual princess, and she wasn't just in the White Fang but heavily connected with it's leadership. No wonder they would still be looking for her years later, she wasn't kidding when she said 'I know the White Fang' then Ruby noticed one of the names listed next to her associates and her smile grew. It looks like Annette's 'sister' would indeed know Blake.

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 **A/N I know it's a bit of a shorter chapter but I didn't really want to do this constant hopping back and forth between the same viewpoints. So yeah, look forward to the next chapter I guess. And before anybody asks, Yes I am still working on Shadows Rage, I've got the next chapter about halfway complete and am still working on it. I had a really hard time Writing Annette for this chapter, I just kinda felt like we don't see enough of her to get a real good read on her character. So I took the fact that she was a pilot (albeit a snarky one who routinely calls out trained killers on their crap) and essentially threw her in the deep end of espionage, and guessed at how most people would react. I hope I did her justice. Anyways hope y'all enjoy!**


	13. Chapter 13

"That can't be right." Blake said after a minute, "I know she felt betrayed by the system, but why go after the headmasters?"

"Indeed it was Vale's council that accused and tried her," Weiss added, "you tried to help her through the whole thing."

"Ruby would never do something like that." Yang said.

"I'm glad you all are so confident in your leader." Ozpin said from behind his desk, he had flown the team back express so that he could talk to them before his new 'shadows' arrived. "But that won't matter to the council, or to Atlas." he could see from their reactions that they knew he was right, "If they catch wind of this they'll brand her a vengefully crazed rouge huntress, which is exactly why they will catch no wind of this." the entire team perked up when he spoke the last line.

"What do you mean Prof?" Yang asked.

"I mean your mission to find Ruby Rose will continue with my full support." Ozpin said, "After all Ruby Rose has no connection to this Scarlette Summers right?"

"But we just told you…" Yang began before she was silenced by Weiss.

"I understand, we'll follow the leads we find on our own." She said.

"And remove any evidence we find connecting Ruby to Scarlette Summers right?" Blake finished.

"Correct." Ozpin said, "While you are at it see if you can find who it is trying to frame her. She may not be safe if someone out there knows her identity."

"Got it prof." Yang said.

"By the end of the day I will have Atlesian 'bodyguards following me around everywhere." Ozpin said, letting his frustration show for once, "so when you report to me or ask for assistance, don't give me any details that could implicate Ruby as being Summers."

"Understood." Blake said, "Where should we start looking for clues?"

"The last place she was confirmed to be was in Mistral." Ozpin said, "Judging by how she is managing to move around so quickly, even with Atlas hunting her, she must have a personal airship or is getting rides on less than credible airships. Your first task will be to find out which, if she has a personal airship, find it and you find her, if it's the latter then you have witnesses to question."

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Annette stared at the glass in her hand, Summers had kicked her out of the room so she could get on her disguise, saying it was a 'surprise.' So here Annette was sitting at the bar they lived on top of. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a pair of arms drape over her shoulders.

"Heya! Sis!" a cheery voice called from behind her. Annette quickly twisted and turned to look at whoever it was behind her. She was greeted with a familiar pairing of white hair and green eyes, or in this case eye.

"Summers?" Annette asked.

"Tonight we're both Summers." Summers said, "call me Jade tonight." Annette paused.

"Not Scarlette?" Annette asked.

"People know that alias, why would I use that when the enemy may potentially know it?" Summers, or rather Jade answered.

"Fair enough," Annette said, "you know that just changing your hair and eye color to look like me won't work right?"

"I have a tail too." Jade said as she grabbed a white cat's tail from behind her.

"Sum-Jade," Annette corrected herself as she started to speak, "Just strapping on a tail isn't going to fool any…" Annette trailed off as she noticed the fake tail start moving around high in a confident manner as Jade wore the biggest smirk on her face. "H-how?"

"Well my dear sister," Jade said as she grabbed her own drink from the counter, though when she had ordered it Annette didn't know. "You are absolutely right, I am not so foolish as to think that I can trick any Faunus with a fake unmoving limb, so I fed a few of Penny's lines through the tail and tied her into my vitals so that she can move it in a realistic manner." Annette looked over the younger girl and noticed that the way she was dressed hid her intelligent weapon underneath a long grey skirt. The rest of her outfit was fairly fitting of a huntress in training with a white dress shirt and green woolen vest over it, even the fairly simple sword sheathed at her hip.

"So we're really doing this?" Annette asked after a moment.

"Yup." Jade answered, "when things start getting heated you're priority is just to get safely out, let me deal with the terrorists."

"When?" Annette asked as Jade started walking away with a smirk.

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Reg sighed as he heard the InOps specialist shuffle uncomfortably besides him.

"Cobe, calm down your going to wear out the treads on your boots at this rate." Reg told the blue haired Soldier next to him.

"My apologies Sir." Lieutenant Cobe answered, "Just having a hard time believing I was selected for this."

"Why? you're a good soldier who fights well enough and can remain fairly inconspicuous." Reg tried to reassure the younger officer.

"I fight alright, but we're talking about me guarding Ozpin here." Lt. Cobe answered, "the guy was considered a huntsman prodigy for a reason."

"Well your main job is just to look out for anyone suspicious." Reg answered, "I don't expect or require you to sacrifice your life to protect the man, just keep an eye out for an assassin he wouldn't see coming."

"You really think we'd be able to spot Summers before she strikes?" Cobe asked.

"Maybe, maybe not but we have a better chance than anybody else out there." Reg answered, before the elevator doors opened and the two strode into the room. It was large for an office, gears and clockwork adorned the ceiling. It was all rather impressive, in a strange sort of way.

"Can I help you?" a grey haired, though young for his station, man called out to them from behind a desk.

"I'm Major Ranger," Reg answered, "Remember our conversation professor?"

Ozpin sighed, "yes of course Mr. Ranger, I've been expecting you."

"Well, I'd like to introduce you to your new lookout," Reg pointed to the you Lt next to him, "This is Lieutenant Cobe."

"A Pleasure to meet you sir!" Cobe spoke up and offered the headmaster a hand.

"Likewise I'm sure." Ozpin answered, "Do not take this as an affront to your skill but I do believe your presence here will be unnecessary."

"None taken sir, I understand how it could seem like that," Cobe began to answer.

"Furthermore as I run a school involving some of my kingdoms brightest young minds there will be many things that I handle that are…" Ozpin paused, "Confidential, even to someone of your caliber."

With all due respect, Sir." Reg interjected, "The Lt, is a member of InOps and is trustworthy enough for some of our biggest secrets."

"Perhaps you have forgotten, Captain," Ozpin said as he turned to Reg, "as the council seems to have, that you are both part of the Atlas military, we find ourselves in Vale."

"Sir I-" Reg began to answer.

"Vale, a nation which has been able to, for decades now, operate without a standing military of our own." Ozpin interrupted, "do you know how we have managed to do such a thing?"

"Outsourcing Sir?" Reg answered. Ozpin smirked a little at that.

"As much as it seems like that recently, no." Ozpin answered, "We've been able to maintain our security and stability without a military by allowing our huntsmen to step into the vacuum made by such a decision." Ozpin took a sip from a mug he had sitting on his desk. "However, even with the lack of a formal military, some structure must be maintained, we have huntsmen who act as scouts, vanguards, pilots, and medics, I myself fulfill the role of the king piece or General if you will." His gaze turned harsh once again, "There will be things that are confidential for anyone who is not one of my VALEAN huntsmen, that is non-negotiable are we clear."

After a minute Reg sighed, "Very well, Professor, but the Lieutenant must remain close by to ensure that our rogue agent has not slipped in amongst, 'your huntsmen'"

"Ah yes this 'rogue agent' of yours, you have repeatedly said how dangerous she is but have provided no such evidence to corroborate this, in fact I have heard nary a description of her. Had I not met her already I would have no idea what to look for."

"With all due respect Sir." Reg looked surprised at the young Lt, who had decided to speak up, "you're description of her is likely inaccurate, we haven't sent a description of her because we don't have one, every time we saw her at InOps it was like she was a different person."

"I see then how are you sure that she is the culprit?" Ozpin asked, causing Reg to frown, what did he mean 'how are we sure' there was evidence.

"We have evidence linking her to both of the headmasters murder scenes." Reg answered, "She is the culprit."

"So sure are you? If she was hellbent on killing headmasters, then why am I still alive?" Ozpin answered, "You would do well to remember nothing is ever quite as it seems."

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"Uggh" Ruby mumbled as she shoved past yet another drunk hitting on her and Annette, "that's like the third guy, are Faunus girls really this popular?" Annette hummed for a moment.

"Kinda, Some guys are attracted to the exotic, what's more exotic than a girl from another race?" Annette answered, before discreetly pointing at another group of drunkards who were sneering at them, "other guys, not so much."

"Well, whatever it is it's annoying." Ruby huffed. They continued walking down the mainstreet in companionable silence for a while.

"It's this way," Annette said, pointing towards one of the alley's off to the side. Ruby nodded, and followed Annette. She actually knew the way, having mapped out the entire area beforehand, but for appearances sake she would let Annette lead her there. Once they got out of the alley Ruby could see a warehouse, big surprise there, what was a surprise however was the several security guards milling about outside. Upon seeing them, Annette immediately grabbed out the paper she had been given and was looking at it frantically.

"Did I get us turned around?" She mumbled to herself. Meanwhile Ruby looked at the guards, they wore a blue uniform shirt and black pants, pretty standard for civilian guards, however the rifles and submachine guns they carried were not. Upon further inspection none of the guards had any kind of company logo on their uniforms, just some generic 'Security' written on it, but the real kicker was that each and everyone of them was a Faunus.

"I think this is the right place Annette," Ruby said, "lets just go and see." Ruby then led Annette forward. When one of the guards noticed them he nodded and pointed to one of the doors on the warehouse.

"They're...?" Annette mumbled quietly.

"Clever." Ruby said, "The police and huntsmen are out checking as many abandoned warehouses as they can, why check one that already has its own security." as soon as they were inside the building they were greeted by the familiar look of black and white uniforms paired with Grimm masks. One of the grunts directed them towards the upper balcony. Ruby went up first with Annette trailing behind. A White Fang member with a more ornate, horned mask spotted them.

"Adam." she called out, and Ruby's attention was drawn to the man who was turning around to meet them. She had to school her features, she recognized this man. She had never gotten his name, but she could never have forgotten the White Fang member that stopped her and started her down this path.

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 **A/N Guess who's back! No seriously this has taken me so long to write I wouldn't be surprised if a few of you have forgotten. Life has been incredibly busy, as now not only am I working part time for the military, I'm also in the process of starting my own company in the private sector, so yeah. Anyways I was planning originally to have the showdown between Adam and Ruby take place in this chapter but by the time the set up was done I felt like it would either make the chapter to long, or I wouldn't be able to do it justice. So next chapter. Welp, hope you all enjoy and I'll see you soon (Hopefully).**


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